Thin Pages
by Queen.Of.Creating
Summary: "Not only will this class be reading it, but all of my classes will be reading it." Umbridge said, her girly voice laced with vindictive excitement. "And I've delivered copies to each of the professors and the headmaster. I believe these books will clear things up very soon." Rated T for language.
1. The Boy Who Lived

_For those of you who are coming to view this story sometime after January 12, 2017, originally this story was like the other Reading The Books fanfictions. The story was in bold and they'd have comments every few lines. But because of the rules of this site, I've changed the story a lot. There will be no actual reciting of the original Harry Potter. Hopefully you still enjoy this story._

 _Disclaimer, I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters and this is not a way for me to criticize the books. It's just how I believe the characters would react if_ they _read JK Rowling's brilliant work._

* * *

 **In this chapter: Vernon Dursley experiences the after effects of the wizarding world learning of Voldemort's disappearance, Dumbledore brings Harry to his new family, and Hagrid was the one to deliver him using Sirius Black's motorbike.**

* * *

Prologue

Nineteen year old Harry, Hermione, and Ron sat in front of the stack of books. It was incredible to think they'd accomplished it. Harry had put each of his memories of the most important years of his life into the books. Professor McGonagall, the current headmistress of Hogwarts, had contributed by giving her own memories of the day Harry had been taken to the Dursleys, the day where she had watched all of the Dursleys carefully- particularly his uncle.

Originally they were going to put it all in one story, but Hermione thought it'd be better to split it by year as the book would have been much too large. It was incredible how much bigger of a story his later years were compared to his first three. Ron picked up the smallest book and flipped through it briefly.

"They're in third person." Ron commented.

"So are memories." Hermione said simply. "These books are written with memories, it's expected that they be told similarly."

Harry had watched the process of using his memories and turning them into pages of a book. They were copies of his memories, of course, as all of his mind was intact. That was the easier part. The harder part would be sending the books back.

" _As they disappear into the past we will disappear as well." Hermione had explained. "It's a scary thought, isn't it? This version of us won't be around anymore. Us sending the books back will affect so much that a future in which we didn't have to books will no longer exist. As soon as the books are sent back, the future we know now will be replaced with a future in which our past selves read the books."_

" _It will be for the best." Harry said._

" _Things didn't turn out so bad." Ron said. "It could have been worse. But... it could have been better."_

" _We could save so many..." Hermione whispered. "We have to do this don't we?"_

And they did. The books were made, they just had to be sent to the past.

"I hope you don't mind, Harry," Hermione said. "I put them in a sort of story book fashion. I thought it'd all be easier to get the information that way."

"It's brilliant." Harry said staring at the books as Ron put the top one back.

"I'm glad you feel that way." Hermione said tiredly. "Considering how long it took to make these."

"Are they ready to be sent?" Harry asked. Hermione raised an eyebrow.

"Right now? At this hour?" Hermione asked.

"Well they're likely to show up wherever I am at this time four years ago, right?" Harry asked. He had wanted to send them further, maybe stop Cedric's death, but Hermione said to send it just four years back was going to be difficult, and they shouldn't try to send it further back. The fact that objects were going back and not people gave them more leniency, although Harry suspected the only reason Hermione was risking sending them back so far was because of Sirius.

The books would be sent back four years to the day and time, so if she sent the books at two in the morning, they would show up wherever Harry was on this day four years ago at two in the morning. "I'll likely be in bed. Better they show up while I'm there than in the common room or class. And I don't want to delay this anymore, they have to have enough time to read the books to be able to stop Sirius' death."

Hermione nodded. "Okay then. We'll do this now."

"I don't know why we needed to send the first four years anyway." Ron muttered. Hermione sighed, as she had explained this to both of them countless times.

"Harry may have been too young to understand the situation when he first experienced it. It's helpful to review, why do you think people extract and view memories anyway?"

Ron rolled his eyes but said nothing more. Hermione got in position to attempt to send the book back but paused and glanced at Harry.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" she asked, her wand raised. "It's like I said, once I send these books back these versions of ourselves won't exist anymore. It's not like the time turner."

"I'm sure." Harry said forcefully. "Do it."

Hermione bit her lip, and put her wand down for a second. She wrote something down and put it on top of the carefully crafted books. Ron peaked over her shoulder.

"What did you put?"

Hermione moved out of the way so they could read the note and both boys scoffed.

"Why so cryptic?" Ron asked as she started muttering something. "Couldn't you have just put _here are books of your future read them for information_?"

Hermione ignored him and Harry watched as the books began to fade, and with them, the world around him was fading. He hoped the information would do him well. He hoped he could save a lot of lives. He wished his past self good luck before the world fade to white.

* * *

Fifteen year old Harry was walking in the comfort of his father's invisibility cloak. It was well after curfew and he had been avoiding sleep. Ever since the dream he'd had about Voldemort and Rookwood he'd been falling asleep later and later. He wasn't having a good week. His dream had put him on edge, and he had to keep reminding himself to put it in the back of his mind. An Occlumency lesson with Snape would be coming soon, within the next week. Umbridge had begun to take points from Gryffindor more often than Snape. She was still bitter about _The Quibbler_ article that the entire school had read. Harry had more allies now, and she was gripping at any hold she could get to convince them that there was no danger out there and Voldemort had not returned.

Feeling he had been walking around long enough, Harry made to go back to his room only to trip over something and fall. His father's cloak flew off of him and he landed with a thud. His glasses dangling off of his face, he sat up drowsily. It was in the middle of the night, Harry had no idea what could be on the floor. Then he heard footsteps and he quickly snapped to his sense and pushed his glasses up. Not fast enough, he saw Umbridge come up in front of him, her wand light giving her a weird shadow from her eyelashes hanging over her fat cheeks. Her squash face gleamed, likely happy for another reason to make him miserable.

"What do we have here?" Came her annoying voice. Harry quickly blocked the view of the cloak, but her eyes were on something else. Books. Seven books. They were likely in a pile before Harry had fallen over them, as the bottom two were still on top of each other. When Harry looked closer, he saw they did not have a title on them. Umbridge bent down (not very far down as Harry thought all of the books stacked could rival the stumpy woman's hight) and scooped them up. That's when Harry saw a note fall out in front of him. Squinting to read in Umbridge's light, Harry saw:

 _To see what you may have overlooked, to know what is to come. One book is one year, This is your truth._

Umbridge saw Harry squinting at the note, and snatched that up too, nearly dropping the top two books in the process. "I think I'll have to keep this for myself."

Harry did nothing. He didn't care, they weren't his books. He just hoped she didn't spot and try to grab his cloak.

"Off to bed, Potter. Ten points from Gryffindor for being out of bed." She said and scampered away. Harry waited for her light to turn the corner before grabbing his cloak and throwing it around himself, thanking his luck she was either too tired or too distracted to give him detention.

* * *

Chapter 1

Harry dragged himself into Defense Against the Dark Arts, which he had with the Hufflepuffs, feeling weighted. Last night's escapades, if it could even be called that, was catching up with him. He was annoyed that at lunch earlier a few people were giving him strange looks, but no one he asked knew why anymore than he did. He noticed in front of all of the seats were identical sets of familiar looking piles of books. When he got closer, it was indisputable that these were the same books he'd fallen over the night before.

He instantly disliked them. Harry had known of these books for less than 24 hours and already they were guilty of three offences in Harry's opinion. They had been left in the middle of the hallway, first offence. They had tripped Harry when he was minding his own business, second offence. They had caused Harry to lose ten more points for his house, third offence. The fact that Harry had no idea what to call them bothered him, and Umbridge looked far too happy at the moment. Nothing that made Umbridge happy could be good.

Harry sat down and they blocked his view from Umbridge's smiling face, so they couldn't be too bad. Harry knew published books could not be copied, there was a charm on them for that so no one tried to cheat their way out of buying them if they wanted/needed the book. Umbridge had dozens of copies, however, so the books weren't mainstream or anything. Harry noticed they were all red hardback books. The top three were smaller, the first one being the smallest. But the fourth one was much larger, the fifth one looked to be the largest book. The sixth and seventh books were smaller in size to the fourth and fifth, but still twice as large as the first three.

"Good afternoon, class!" She said cheerily.

"Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge." Most of the class said in the exact way they were told to address the toad-like woman. Harry had not been one of the ones to say this. Harry was _not_ having a good afternoon and he certainly didn't wish for Umbridge to have one. He could not, therefore, greet the woman like this because, according to his hand, he must not tell lies.

"Now, we're going to do something a little different today. I have assigned you all seven books to read. I believe you will find them quite informative. I have skimmed through the first one and I thought it would be good for us to read."

Harry swallowed a groan. Most of the books were large and heavy looking, and there were _seven_ of them. Harry looked at Ron, who looked how Harry felt. Hermione looked at the books curiously but apprehensively. Harry suspected she was fighting a battle within herself. She was excited for new material to read, but anything that spiked Umbridge's interest shouldn't be good.

"Not only will this class be reading it, but all of my classes will be reading it." Umbridge said, her girly voice laced with vindictive excitement. "And I've delivered copies to each of the professors _and_ the headmaster. I believe these books will clear things up very soon."

Harry, still unable to see Umbridge, stared at the books with unease. These books, whatever was inside of them, was likely a game changer. Harry wished he'd grabbed them before Umbridge, he'd have felt safer with them in his hands than hers.

"Take the first book and set it down in front of you. You can put the other six inside of your bags. We will be reading the first chapter together."

Harry pushed the books into his bag, which almost looked like it was crying with the heavy set of books added to his already heavy collection of books.

"There will be no interruptions when we read." She continued. "I had two classes before today, and we hardly got halfway through the chapter with every comment they made. No, instead you will take notes and write down any questions while we read and we will discuss the chapter as a class when we've finished.

Harry let out a sigh, glancing at Ron who looked just as excited about this as he did. At least when they were told to read the other books silently in earlier classes, he could pretend to be reading and spend the time figuring out his plans for the next DA meeting. Or Umbridge's early 'retirement'.

"Hmm. Now, yes." Umbridge looked around, eyes landing on Harry. "Mr. Potter why don't you read for us?"

Harry stared silently at her. No was on the tip of his tongue and he could practically see _I Must Be Obedient_ under his current scar but Ron elbowed him with pleading eyes. Harry's own eyes rolled.

"Yes, professor." He said and opened the book. On the first book it simply said _Book 1_ and on the next page the chapter started. Harry cleared his throat and began to read the first line. **"** Mr. and Mrs. Dursley-" Harry froze, cutting himself off mid sentence, the words leaving a bitter taste on his mouth. Harry looked at the books again, turned to the blank cover and back at the pages. What... what were these books? Why were they talking about his aunt and uncle?

"Is something wrong, Mr. Potter?" Umbridge said, a similar sweetness and look when he had his first detention. The rest of the class looked curious. None of them would know who Mr. and Mrs. Dursley were. Even Ron and Hermione hadn't figured it out yet. Hermione referred to them as Harry's aunt and uncle, and Ron simply called them The Muggles.

"I'm not reading this." He said forcefully.

Umbridge's smile widened a bit. "Something to hide, Mr. Potter?"

Harry thought about the idea of telling someone- Dumbledore and McGonagall came to mind- but he realized there was nothing they could do.

"No, professor." He bit out, his anger rising as he gripped the book and looked at the page again, starting from the beginning.

* * *

"That's... it." Harry said hoarsely, closing his book. "That's the first chapter."

"I can't believe Dumbledore really left you out there all night for a real cat to piss on you." Ron muttered.

That was really hard for Harry to read. When Hermione and Ron had realized what the books were about, they'd tried to get Umbridge to stop reading. _"It's an invasion of privacy!"_ Hermione had said, but Umbridge said she could assign any book she wanted, as it was _her_ class.

Hermione, though visibly angry about this whole situation, had a plethora of notes from just the one chapter. Some were about the main points of the chapter, like hearing of the day Voldemort disappeared from a muggle's perspective, and some were about things she just thought were interesting. Like the device Dumbledore used to make the muggle street dark.

She wrote, _Most magical items didn't work around electricity, hence the medieval way wizards lived, but this little thing worked with electricity it seemed._ And then mentally decided to ask Professor Dumbledore about it sometime.

"Very good, now, who has questions?" Umbridge asked. Many hands went up and the first person to be called on was Seamus.

"Er- okay well I don't really know how you're going to know this, but at one point in the chapter the Dursley bloke said something about 'our crowd'. I realized he meant us and that he must know about us, but it doesn't really make sense." He was glancing at his paper. "If his wife is so ashamed of magic, why would she bother telling him about it?"

Harry frowned. Yes, why _had_ his aunt told his uncle about his mother and her 'crowd'.

"I have no way of knowing that." Umbridge said testily. "Any other questions?"

Harry had nothing to say. He was bitter, he was _angry_ , and he was simply waiting for the class to end. His stomach sank when he realized that they were going to find out. All of them. The entire school was about to find out how he used to live. How he still lived when with the Dursleys. He never told anyone, not even Ron or Hermione. They knew a little bit but they didn't know the worse of it. He never even told Sirius.

"When Dumbledore appears on the street, the narrative describes it as if it was apparition, but it also says his appearance was silent. Apparition comes with a crack." Susan was saying after being called on. "So I guess what I'm asking is, well, how'd he apparate without the sound?"

"It's possible he apparated somewhere else and walked under a disillusionment charm." Umbridge answered. "Anyone else?"

The class continued answering different people's questions, Harry paid little attention. A lot of the questions were stupid to him, like _why_ isn't _there a Harry Potter holiday?_ Or noting that his scar had been _so fresh_ at the time in the chapter and that _Baby Harry didn't even know it's significance._ To which Harry bitterly thought _ten year old Harry didn't know it's significance either._ Mostly, he was still thinking about what he read. He still felt appreciation that McGonagall saw the travesty in this night through all of the celebratory chaos. It had been about time that _someone_ did.

"Well... something's been bothering me for a while." Dean was saying as Harry half tuned back into the conversation. "Hagrid saw Sirius Black right before he killed all of those people, but... where did they meet? Was it at the Potter House? Because if it was... why wouldn't he try to kill Harry then? And why would he lend Hagrid his bike to deliver Harry safely?"

Harry, now fully paying attention, tried to hide his grin. Umbridge, however, looked quite upset. "I don't know." She said shortly. "Before class ends, what are the most important things we have gathered from this chapter?"

Hermione raised her hand and didn't wait to be called on. Harry didn't blame her, she'd had her hand up the entire time and Umbridge simply ignored her. "Mostly nothing, mam."

Umbridge glared at Hermione, but Hermione kept going.

"What we didn't know was that Sirius Black must have stopped to see Harry that night, and met up with Hagrid. And despite Harry's vulnerability, he did not attempt to murder him, but instead helped Hagrid deliver him safely by giving Hagrid his bike. Which makes you wonder what his motives really were." Umbridge was looking very pink at this point. Harry saw that a lot of his classmates were thinking about this. "Other than that, everything that has come up in this chapter is already known. Harry Potter defeated Voldemort mysteriously when he was a baby, Lily and James Potter died, may they rest in peace, and Dumbledore is the only wizard Voldemort ever feared."

"Sirius Black, though mad, was an intelligent wizard. He would not have attempted to kill Harry if the very actions brought down his master!" Umbridge said sternly. "He was likely there because he wondered why his master hadn't come back from his task of killing The Potters yet."

"And the bike, professor?" Ron prodded.

"I cannot see inside the mind of a killing maniac!" Umbridge screeched. She breathed out and brought her voice down the next time she spoke. "It likely would have done him well later on, giving Rubeus Hagrid his bike, as it would give him an alibi, but the next day the Ministry did their job and captured him."

"Hermione also mentioned that Dumbledore's the only wizard Voldemort ever feared." Harry called out, his fist in the air.

Hermione nodded. "Because he is a respectable and admirable wizard. Surely he wouldn't be spreading word that Voldemort was back if it weren't true."

Umbridge narrowed her eyes. "As admirable as he may be, he was also distractible. Speaking of muggle sweets when there were more pressing issues. I'm sure even you were alarmed to find that he thought it a good idea to leave an infant on a doorstep all night."

Hermione faltered.

"Albus Dumbledore is older, he isn't as sharp as he once was. It's evident here, and this was over ten years ago." Umbridge said. Ron raised his hand but Umbridge turned away. "I want you to read the next four chapters before your next class, where we will discuss them. Do not try to read ahead, I have placed a charm so that you can not read past the fifth chapter. Class dismissed!"

"We've got to do something about this!" Hermione yelled as they walked away from the classroom.

"Do what, Hermione?" Harry asked exasperatedly.

"I don't know! Something!" Hermione cried.

"She's right, mate." Ron said. "She can't get away with reading your business to the entire school. We can tell Dumbledore or-"

"Dumbledore can't do anything. If he had any say over how and what Umbridge was teaching he would have done something in the beginning when she decided we didn't need to actually _practice_ defense spells this year of all years." Harry explained, hatred seeping over his words. "While she's got Fudge behind her, she's untouchable. I'm just going to have to deal with the entire school knowing everything about me."

* * *

 _A quick shout out to CynthiaW for giving me the idea for using this style so that I'm not breaking any rules, to melkun for giving me the idea of summarizing the important parts of the chapter in the beginning, and of course to Bookhater95 for motivating me to put this up in the first place. This story would not exist without her._

 _And of course to everyone who stuck with this story while it was going through major changes, and everyone who motivated me, and those who gave this story a chance AND to any future readers. Thank you!_

 _Oh, and there's a twitter & tumblr for my fanfics, links on my profile, blah, blah, blah._


	2. The Vanishing Glass

_With the new style of this story, this is a really short chapter. Well short for me anyway, my chapters tend to range from 6-9 pages and this only came out to about 3. I'm actually a little self conscious about how short it is. Either way, the most important parts are still talked about. Some of the rewritten chapters are going to turn out that way. Hope you enjoy it either way!_

 _Disclaimer, I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters and this is not a way for me to criticize the books. It's just how I believe the characters would react if_ they _read JK Rowling's brilliant work._

* * *

 **In This Chapter: We learn what Harry's life is like with The Dursleys, Dudley celebrates his birthday, and Harry gets consequences for his accidental magic.**

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Chapter 2

Draco was sitting in his dormitories, the book open in his lap to the second chapter. His closest friends were there, Blaise, Pansy, Crabbe, and Goyle. They had formed a sort of reading club for DADA that the other Slytherins in their year weren't interested in. As they didn't have a double defense period, they hadn't finished the first chapter, and they came together in Draco's room to finish it as a group that evening. Umbridge wanted them to read the second chapter for homework where they would briefly discuss it the next class and read as much of the third chapter in class the next day as possible. They thought it hilarious that Umbridge managed to find works on Potter, making fun of the fact that they now knew that Potter was so obnoxious because he grew up with those muggles.

"It's a shame no one on his _father_ 's side was alive." Pansy had said distastefully. "Blood Traitors as they were, they still were aware of pureblood customs and could have brought him up with more sense."

Yes, it had all been very funny, at first. Then, Draco read something that made all of them stop laughing at once, that Harry Potter slept in a cupboard.

Draco had paused. He opened his mouth to speak, and then closed it again. He looked up at his friends, who looked just as stunned.

"Read that over again?" Pansy asked. Draco cleared his throat and reread the line that told them that Harry Potter, Boy Who Lived, slept in a cupboard.

"Potter slept in a cupboard?" grunted Crabbe.

"With spiders..." Blaise shivered. Blaise knew Weasley had a fear of spiders as well, from their third year when Lupin had them work with the bogart. It was the only thing he had in common with the blood traitor, he was not very much a fan of the arachnids. "Maybe he only slept in the cupboard that night. Maybe there's something wrong with his room and that's where he slept while they fixed it."

They all nodded, though none of them really bought it. For one thing, he could sleep on the couch, or the floor, or, Merlin, anywhere else. Plus, that's not what the sentence had implied. Draco rolled his eyes and was about to go back to reading. It wasn't like he liked Potter. He actually found it pretty amusing that the wizarding world's Golden Boy slept in a cupboard, even if just once.

It didn't get much better after that, however. After a page or two, they decided if they were going to get through this chapter, they had to have the same rule Umbridge gave them during class and just not interrupt during the reading of the chapter. That being said, you could see on everyone's faces that this wasn't nearly as funny as they thought it was going to be. Pansy in particular seemed to be having a hard time with it, and began to write notes down like she was in class.

That didn't stop them from flipping out when they found out Potter was going to be locked in the cupboard without meals. Draco didn't know if it was Goyle's stomach that made him react the way he did, but even he had shouted out. And Pansy...

" _Those miserable little-" Pansy had to cut herself off and take a deep breath. "How much more is there in this chapter?" she had asked._

" _Less than a page." Draco answered._

" _Good." Pansy spat. "Because this isn't fun anymore."_

But there was this one time when Blaise and Pansy started laughing, and they wouldn't tell Draco why. When they finished the chapter, Draco wasted no time. "What were you two laughing about?"

Their glum faces lit up with amusement as they began to snicker again. "When it was saying how Dudley would wail and pretend to cry to get whatever he wanted," Blaise began. "He-"

Blaise started laughing again and Pansy finished, "He- He sounds like you!"

Draco felt heat run through him and he stood quickly, letting the book fall. "Don't ever compare me to that _pig_ again."

"Calm down, Draco." Blaise said, looking annoyed now. "Like it or not, you do the same thing, Narcissa adores you."

"Yeah, and you use that to your advantage." Pansy defended. "It's not a big deal."

Sitting down, Draco did not look any less annoyed about this. Wanting to change the subject, Blaise said, "I know the book said nothing could be done to fix Potter's hair, but I still feel like he doesn't really try. I'm sure he's not simply forced to walk around with that rats nest."

"Of course he could do something about it. His grandfather made Sleekeazy's Hair Potion." Pansy said running her hand through her own hair.

"Really?" Blaise raised an eyebrow. She nodded, going into her bag and pulling out her package of it and showed them all the bottom where it said _Fleamont Potter_. Draco mentally gagged at the name.

"I think the wild hair runs in the family and one of the Potters finally did something about it." Pansy said putting it back. "Apparently, Granger used it for the Yule Ball, and it actually looked nice. You know it's a miracle worker if it did that for her. I use it whenever I have a particularly bad knot."

"Does Potter know his grandfather made it?" Draco asked, sufficiently distracted from his anger. "Because I'd have half a mind to send it to him if I didn't find making fun of his hair daily a great stress reliever."

"I doubt it," Blaise said frowning. "He didn't even know what his parents looked like."

The mood went cold.

"He didn't even know the truth about how they died." Pansy said quietly, bouncing her quill in her fingers.

"He didn't know about magic." Crabbe said, speaking for the first time. "Did you notice that?"

"Yes, but Dumbledore explained everything in a letter." Pansy said.

"Oh I'm sure the muggles know." Blaise said. "I just don't think he does. I don't think they ever told him."

Draco was getting angry on Potter's behalf, which was an alarming thought he didn't want to dive into. "They've got some nerve! Why Potter associated with mudbloods at all after growing up with filth like this is lost on me!"

"And when she told them his parents died by a car crash!" Pansy shrieked. "I thought you were having me on!"

Draco grumbled. He wouldn't even wish that on his worst enemy- and his worst enemy got exactly that.

Pansy was staring at her notes. "When I was reading, I made a note wondering why they wouldn't give Potter his own clothes. I mean, It's not like the Weasleys, he has the money. I guess I realize now, it's cause they don't want him to have anything nice."

"They're not even treating him like a human." Blaise growled. "Having him do a servant's job, making him sleep in a cupboard!"

"I thought we agreed it was only for the night." Pansy mumbled.

"I think we all know that's not true." Blaise moaned putting his head in his hands. "Because it seems this book is actively trying to make us all guilty of how we treated him."

"I don't." Draco said defensively. He could admit Potter's pathetic home life with the muggles made him feel uneasy. Potter was just a kid after all. But that didn't mean he thought his friends should be feeling guilty all of a sudden. "I still think he hangs with the wrong crowd, and he was still a prat to me when I tried to get him away from them. And he has everyone falling over themselves to cater to him."

"I simply don't like him." Pansy said crossing her legs. "And nothing in here changes that, but I will say I feel slightly bad for him."

Draco was completely ignoring the fact that since they started the chapter, he'd been standing up for Potter like Pansy had been. However, Draco's fear that he'd lose his friends to Harry Boy Who Lived Potter had gotten the better of him and he was now focused on that. "I wouldn't go that far."

"Oh come on, Draco." Blaise said. "There doesn't seem to be a single person in the muggle world that likes him."

Draco shrugged. "I say good. Snape's the only one who really deflates his ego around here. But I suppose this book answers why Potter doesn't have any respect. He was never taught it. If I ever talked to my parents the way that ugly, fat nitwit Potter calls a cousin did, I don't think you'd ever see me again. And that little turd gets congratulated for it."

"So he has no respect, and he's treated too well here." Pansy said. "I'm still allowed to hope he doesn't starve."

"We know he doesn't." Draco snapped.

"He's not treated well." Blaise cut in. "Pansy just recognizes that. And alright, I laughed at some of the things he said in here, he's funny, I'll give him that. But don't think we're going to go run off and hang out with him and the mudblood and blood traitors now."

Draco didn't say anything in response to that. Crabbe and Goyle looked at the three friends. Wanting, again, to change the subject, Draco said, "So... we're all in agreement that the thing is dead now right?"

Blaise and Pansy snorted and nodded, thankful for the subject change but Crabbe frowned. "Why?"

"Well," Blaise began. "There's no way in hell it made it to Brazil, and the weather in London isn't fit for anything that's supposed to be in the tropical weathers of that country. Unless it was caught again and taken back to this zoo, where they probably gave it what it needed to survive, it died."

Crabbe nodded in understanding. After another minute of silence, Pansy got up. "Well, if we're done here."

And she left without another word. Blaise sighed and flopped onto his bed. "This isn't going to be as funny as we thought."

"That's just with the muggles." Draco said completely sure of himself. "We can go back to laughing at his misery when he gets here."


	3. The Letters From No One

_Disclaimer, I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters and this is not a way for me to criticize the books. It's just how I believe the characters would react if_ they _read JK Rowling's brilliant work._

* * *

 **In this chapter: Harry's sent multiple letters, and Uncle Vernon goes to extreme lengths to keep him from reading said letters, including staying on an old shack in the middle of the ocean. But before he does that, he gives Harry a real room!**

* * *

Chapter 3

"It's just horrible!" sobbed one of the little Ravenclaw girls Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle were walking in front of to get to the front hall. She couldn't be older than a third year. Because of the different times and days of DADA for each year and house, different groups of people were at different places in the books. Some were just starting them today, others may be on chapter four already. This little group of girls had obviously gotten to chapter two already, maybe even chapter three. He'd be reading that in class today since he had Double DADA. It couldn't be anything worse than what's in the second chapter in there.

Draco reflected, as he walked into The Great Hall, he might have been a little hard on Pansy the night before. Even he was cringing at Potter's treatment. It was deplorable, and he would probably laugh hearing about it but reading about it in detail was something he could have gone the rest of his life without. Still, it was more than a little annoying to have a friend of yours cooing over poor Harry bloody Potter. From what Draco's seen, every female in the damn school was mopping their eyes over _Potter,_ and come to think of it, some of the blokes too. Even some of his Slytherin peers who usually have much more sense were warming up to him it seems.

Daphne Greengrass obviously hadn't done the reading the night before and had been catching up in History Of Magic, where they could be taking notes or dueling each other and Binns wouldn't notice either way. Draco noted that in the beginning she snickered, and soon she was gasping. By the end of the class she looked sullen faced and was trying to discreetly brush away a tear or two. Draco was starting to wonder if this was Potter's plan from the start.

Lunch was uneventful for the most part, until Potter and his mudblood and blood traitor pets came in. Just from the looks on their faces Draco could tell they hadn't read chapter two. Whether or not they read chapter one, he wasn't sure of. However, Draco wasn't stupid enough to believe they'd look as carefree (albeit uncomfortable with the stares coming their way) as they did right at that moment if they read _that_ chapter.

"Do you think Professor Dumbledore could have done something about this?" Draco heard someone he did not know say a little later.

"Of course he _could_ have!" said the other person. "But he likely didn't know!"

Draco glanced at the Gryffindor table as Harry took his last bite of food and rolled his eyes. "Draco!"

He snapped out of his thoughts and looked at Pansy. "What?"

"Do you want to take our break?" she asked. He saw she, Blaise, Crabbe, and Goyle were all looking at him expectedly. He nodded, "Alright."

They got up, and not until they'd gotten to the edge of the table did they notice Potter and company had done the same. They didn't seem to see him or his friends, so Draco slowed down a bit.

"Just wish everyone would stop staring at me." he heard Potter say as they walked towards the exit.

"This will all..." Weasley began but the door shut and the rest of what he said was lost. When they opened the doors again, he heard Potter's response.

"I don't think any of this will ever be normal, Ron."

"I know this is strange, I know it's horrible. But really, Harry, you're putting off reading the chapters we were assigned." Granger said. "We agreed to read together, but we can't wait until right before class on Friday. We can start now if you'd like."

Potter muttered something and Granger sighed.

"We'll do it right before Care of Magical Creatures then."

Almost at the same time, they all realized they were following Potter and his friends and quickly made their way to the dungeons. Nothing really happened. They chatted, Blaise and Nott played chess, just lounged around. When the time came, he gathered his things and he and the others began walking to the Defense Classroom. He took his usual seat, in the front. Umbridge was looking quite pleased with herself.

"Good afternoon, class!" she grinned.

"Good afternoon, Professor Umbridge."

"Did everyone do the reading?"

Mumbled yes's were heard, although no one sounded too happy about it. Draco found he was almost on Potter's side in all of this. That didn't mean if Potter tried to do something like steal the books from everyone and burn them up, which Draco would not put past him, he'd assist the nitwit. It just meant he'd understand if he did. He couldn't imagine having the entire school read about his personal life. He might still mock him about it all, after all, everyone else would be falling over themselves to help him now that he's got _another_ sob story.

 _Oh my parents died, I had to live with muggles, they treat me like their servant, love me!_

"Very good." Umbridge said. "We will be continuing today, reading chapter three. Would anyone want to volunteer to do the reading? Draco?"

Draco frowned. "No thank you."

Umbridge looked unhappy and turned to the rest of the class, but no one spoke up. "Very well, I will do the reading." She cleared her throat and began.

* * *

Umbridge finished the chapter with Harry's realization that someone was trying to get into their cabin. For a moment, it made people worry, who in the world could have been attempting to go into _that_ place at _midnight_.

"It might be a teacher." Said a Ravenclaw mudblood. "When we wrote the letter off as a prank, a professor came and explained everything to us."

"Thank you for that, next time do not speak out of turn." Umbridge said. "Anyone have anything else to add? What have we learned from this chapter?"

Michael Corner raised his hand and when called on said, "That this is one of the most depressing books ever created."

That was something everyone seemed to agree on. Well, everyone except maybe Umbridge, who had smiled every once and awhile at random while exposing Potter's secrets. Even Draco thought so. When Draco heard that Potter had only gotten a coat hanger and an old sock for his birthday, his jaw dropped. Of course he should have expected that Potter's birthdays were horrible as well, but not even a damn card? He couldn't _imagine_ getting nothing but a coat hanger and old socks on his birthday.

Umbridge was not amused now, however. "Anything else?"

"That you can't reason with loons." Corner added on, referring to Vernon Dursley's obsessed and insane behavior. "Especially with logic, like the aunt was trying to do."

Blaise snorted and whispered, "I wrote something similar down."

A Ravenclaw girl raised her hand hesitantly. Umbridge studied her for a moment before saying, "Yes?"

"How did they know he didn't read his letter?" she said. "I mean, he opened the first one, and even nearly unfolded it."

"There's a charm on there that sends word back that the person whom is addressed in the letter has read the entirety of it." Umbridge said, looking a little annoyed at the interruption. "If said person hasn't read it, they will send another."

"And another," Crabbe said under his breath. "And another, and another, and _another…_ "

" _Shut up,_ Crabbe." Malfoy snapped. Crabbe had been annoying him the whole chapter. Especially when he took it upon himself to start humming _Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy-wartty Hogwarts_ whenever Potter would get a letter. So _a lot_.

"Does anyone else have something to say?" Umbridge asked.

"That Potter's an idiot." Blaise mumbled. "Why wouldn't he open the letter in the hall in the first place?"

"Maybe he was in shock." Pansy said thoughtfully. "He'd never gotten a letter before, right? How was he supposed to know the giant arse would take it from him?"

Draco was gritting his teeth. He could admit that he had a bit of sympathy for Potter's situation, but now Pansy's defending him. Defending _Potter_! He whispered, his head turned ever so slightly so that they'd hear, "That would imply he has common sense."

He didn't get a reply back.

"If it says the cupboard on the letter, does that mean they know where he sleeps?" Corner asked.

"There is an automatic system." Umbridge said dismissively. "No wizard has been involved in the actual writing and mailing of the letters for nearly a century when the charm was placed."

"Of course," Blaise mumbled. "No one knows Potter lived in an effing cupboard," Blaise mumbled.

"The prophet would have a field day." Pansy said. Draco raised an eyebrow.

"Is there any reason the prophet shouldn't know?" he asked. Blaise and Pansy looked at each other. Draco was starting to get angry. Last week had he known Potter lived in a cupboard for nine years of his life, he, Blaise, and Pansy would have had a party while sending a letter to the prophet. Now they were more than hesitant. They were _sympathizing_.

"Erm." Blaise said still looking at Pansy. "I guess… not."

"But it's a little unnecessary, isn't it?" Pansy said quickly. "The entire student body already knows, and I don't think he very much cares what people outside of Hogwarts thinks."

"That's a good point." Blaise said. They looked at Draco, who was playing off his annoyance. Draco shrugged and turned away. Poor Potter had a hard childhood. He wasn't the only one! Why was he stealing _Draco's_ friends. Draco wouldn't send the prophet news on Harry's living arrangements, it'd just continue the trend of _Poor Poor Potter_. He'd figure out something to do with this information. Last week he would have hexed anybody- hell _everybody_ for the kind of embarrassing shit he was being handed. Why should that change now? Everyone else may be singing to Potter's tune, but not Draco.

"I didn't know Harry had such a temper! I was surprised by the way he yelled at his uncle about wanting his letter!" the more tolerable Patil twin said after being called on. Then, very quietly she added, "Unless you count what happens between him and _her,_ " she glanced at Umbridge, "Which- well who could blame him, but he's always so... so serene."

Umbridge didn't hear the second part of what Patil said. "Yes, he was extremely disrespectful in this chapter, and did not follow his uncle's instructions." she tisked. Draco raised an eyebrow. He doubted he'd follow anything that man said as well. Not that he was defending Potter.

"Potter's funny when he has a temper." Pansy said while giggling quietly. _Giggling_ for Merlin's sake! And he remembered hearing Blaise clearly whenever the students laughed while they were reading. Blaise and Pansy were clearly warming up to the Golden Boy, whether they'd admit it or not, and Draco didn't like that at all. No, Potter had enough allies, he didn't need to take any of Draco's. "His response to Dudley was so great I thought I'd die from laughing so hard."

When Potter told Dudley the toilet would get sick from having something horrible like Dudley's head down it, Umbridge actually had to pause reading because most of the class had laughed for so long. Even many of the Slytherins. Draco knew of Potter's cheek, as he was often on the other side of it, even he managed a chuckle from that one.

"In fact, I think that was a Common Room Line!" Pansy continued

A Common Room Line. Being in Slytherin meant constantly proving yourself. In the first year, a good witty remark or comeback usually meant you got to sit in one of the good seats. Draco had used one on his second day, and had a seat ever since. Keeping the seat meant throwing one out every once and awhile to keep that respect. Some of the best quotes and comebacks Draco had ever heard had been in the common room, and there was now a list of the _very_ best ones that was posted on their wall, entitled _Common Room Lines_. Pansy calling what Potter said a CRL meant it was a _really_ good one. Draco had said some great stuff, and he was only on the list twice. Pansy was giving Potter quite the compliment.

"No one pointed out one of the most important things we've gained from this chapter." Umbridge said. "You notice his helplessness in this situation he's in? His inability to make things better for himself? You all should have made note of that. Miss. Parkinson, give me one example of this."

Pansy was aware that she had been called on because she had been talking and Umbridge wanted to punish her without giving her a detention or taking away points. But she had an answer ready anyway. "When the Uncle yelled at him for a long time, and then told him to go make him _tea_."

Many people mumbled their agreement.

Pansy continued in a low voice so that Umbridge couldn't hear, "I wanted to yell _'poison it. Poison it, Harry!'_ " Draco scowled. No, it wasn't that he didn't agree with what she said, he'd have actually gone up to Potter and clapped him on the back if he had done that. No, it was the fact that Pansy had called him _Harry_. It was likely just a slip of the tongue, the books didn't call him Potter after all, but still. These books, they were becoming more of a menace than a laugh.

"Or how about the fact that they have a guest room _and_ a second room for their brat of a son and Potter _still_ had to sleep in a cupboard! I mean, are you _kidding me_?" Blaise went off. Draco glanced back and Blaise looked legitimately angry. "Are you joking? Four rooms and two of them aren't even used? And Potter's sleeping in a bloody- _fucking-"_

"Mr. Zabini!" Umbridge hushed. "Five points from Slytherin!"

Blaise quieted down for the most part. Draco thought he could still hear heavy breathing. He thought he saw Boot giving them a strange look, so he quickly glared at him and Boot looked away.

"But you do make a valid point, that _is_ another example of when Mr. Potter was helpless. Remember this when you continue reading. Right now, however, we are out of time." Umbridge eyed the book thoughtfully, and then nodded to herself. "Draco, do you read this alone?"

Draco raised an eyebrow and shook his head. "I read it with Pansy, Blaise, Crabbe, and Goyle."

She nodded. "I suspected as much. This is the best way to read outside of class. I want everyone to read chapters five through seven this weekend with the groups which I will assign for you. I will have a the list of groups posted in each of your common rooms with who you'll be reading with and I don't want to hear any complaints. As for now, read chapter four before the weekend, class dismissed."

"Why is she _assigning_ groups?" Crabbe asked him much later as they walked to Care of Magical Creatures. Draco shrugged with one shoulder, unbothered, as long as he didn't get anyone stupid. Although he _was_ reading with Crabbe and Goyle...

Care of Magical Creatures was Draco's least favorite class. The giant was a bloody imbecile and the creatures were menaces. So it wasn't hard to notice three people missing from class (what else was he supposed to do? Pay attention?). Potter, Weasley, and Granger. He remembered Granger saying they would read before this class, but he had no idea why that would make them late. If they had a break before Care of Magical Creatures, depending how long the break was, they may not have finished a chapter and lost track of time or something. Draco wasn't going to spend too much time thinking about it

They didn't end up showing up until dinner, and they certainly didn't show up quietly.

They were a few minutes late, so everyone was already beginning their food when the doors flew open and a red in the face Weasley came stomping in. Granger was right behind him, wet cheeks and swollen red eyes noticeable from a distance. Potter was several steps behind them looking like he wanted the earth to swallow him whole. Weasley was marching straight past the Gryffindor table, not seeming to care that all eyes were on him. His left hand was holding the book of Potter's life, his thumb keeping track of a certain page, and his right hand held his wand. Granger was trying to keep him from doing whatever stupid thing he was about to do, although from where he was Draco thought a part of her may want to join him in it.

Potter seemed to realize they weren't simply going to eat and quickly caught up trying to defuse the Weasley, but Weasley was already at the head table holding the book out in front of Dumbledore. " _No meals_!"

His loud voice coupled with the pin drop silence of the hall made his words echo all around.

"No bloody meals?!" he threw the book to the side but his wand was already up and pointed at their headmaster before the book made impact with something, so it was the last thing on any of their minds. "You knew didn't you? You knew this was happening!"

Potter and Granger were now trying to physically remove him but he didn't budge as he just started breathing heavily like a dragon about to breathe fire. Umbridge was grinning, not daring to stop as the longer Weasley would go on the more she'd be able to get him in trouble for. Snape, however, stepped in.

"It would behoove you to hold your tongue, Weasley, and maybe point your wand somewhere else."

"Bite me, Snape!"

"Ron!"

" _Shut up Hermione!_ " Granger jumped, the hurt and anger battling on her face and the anger was winning. But Weasley had already rounded back on Dumbledore.

"Do you even care? Do you even give a damn? Maybe you didn't know about all of this, maybe you just dropped him on the doorstep and didn't look back!" Weasley was near growling now. "He's _ten_ here! Who- Who treats a ten year old like- like-"

He broke out in line of vulgar curses. Draco was so far quite entertained, and began eating his soup while watching the show. Dumbledore looked no different than he normally did, simply watching the scene unfold. Granger watched Weasley for a moment before she turned on Dumbledore as well.

"When you took him as your responsibility that night, sir, you made him your responsibility as... as almost another guardian! With all due respect, you should have checked on him constantly and consistently! Forgive me, sir, but what were you _thinking_? He'd lost everyone, the least he could have had was someone who gave a-" she seemed to catch herself, remembering where she was and who she was talking to. "Someone who cared about him."

Potter mumbled something, tugging on both of them.

"Why didn't you tell us!" Weasley yelled, now looking almost hysterical. Potter kept his mouth tightly shut. Granger was a lot softer.

"Harry, we're your best friends... we care about you..." she glanced at Weasley. "We're not blaming you. Ron's just... he isn't mad at you. We know it's not your fault, but you... you could have told us."

Potter took a deep breath. Draco glanced at the head table. Snape still looked angry at being told to 'bite' Weasley, almost looking like he wanted to hex Weasley himself but he had more sense and self control. Dumbledore looked pensive. McGonagall looked like she wanted to break this up, but from the looks she was giving Dumbledore, also agreed with everything that had been said. Umbridge looked on eagerly.

"You want to talk about it?" Harry asked calmly. "Alright let's talk about it, but not here."

Granger nodded but Weasley was still thinking with his rage. "No! You know what? I'm not done with him!" he pointed at Dumbledore. He didn't notice the angry look on Potter's face "Maybe he'd like to hear what you've got to say? See what excuses he comes up with, how it was for the best-"

"Ron if you want to talk let's bloody well talk! But I'm not having something else about me that should be private broadcasted to everyone, AGAIN!" Potter yelled louder than Weasley had ever been, his voice sending vibrations onto the table Draco was sitting at. His hand was outstretched towards the tables to fully make his point. Umbridge looked like she'd gotten the best present of her life. Draco was amused to see that some people had actually jumped.

"That's the _I want my letter_ rage there." Blaise mumbled.

Harry wasn't finished. "For ONCE I'd like _something_ to be my own bloody business! So let's _GO_!"'

Weasley glanced around, as if finally realizing where he was.

"Perhaps a talk between the three of you is necessary." Dumbledore finally said. Weasley looked like he wanted to point his wand at the man again, but finally controlled himself and nodded at Potter. Everyone watched the three of them walk out, and the hall was quiet. Those who hadn't understood what Weasley was talking about because they hadn't read that far, like Weasley's siblings from the looks of it, went about pulling out their books.

Dumbledore raised a hand, "You may read in your own free time, let us continue dinner now."

People were muttering and whispering to themselves and each other about what had just happened, some began eating again, and then a girlish giggle could be heard.

"Well, I think something must be done about that little display. I'll have them in my office right after dinner-"

"That's quite alright, Dolores. As I was the target, I'll deal with this." Dumbledore said as if he were doing her a favor. Umbridge smiled sweetly.

"May I remind you of Decree Number Twenty-Five?" Umbridge said pleasantly. "In which I was given supreme authority of all punishments-"

"If they break school rules, and while it's certainly frowned upon to make such a scene, it is not against any written school rules."

"Mr. Weasley threatened you!"

"He was simply pointing with a hand that happened to hold his wand."

"He _threw a book_! It could have hit a student!"

"Simply dropped it from what I saw." Dumbledore smiled, and even from a distance Draco thought he saw his eyes doing that glinting, twinkling thing they liked to do.

"I saw the same thing." McGonagall. Said taking a sip from her glass. "Pomona?"

"Same thing!" Sprout giggled.

"I saw the same as well!" Flitwick squeaked.

"So as you can see, it's all been handled." Dumbledore said. "But I thank you for caring for my well being."

Draco couldn't quite believe what just happened. Potter and his friends got off easy _again_ , and most of the Heads of Houses helped! But Snape didn't, he looked just as bitter as Draco felt.


	4. The Keeper of Keys

_Disclaimer, I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters and this is not a way for me to criticize the books. It's just how I believe the characters would react if_ they _read JK Rowling's brilliant work._

* * *

 **In this chapter, Hagrid comes and tells Harry he's a wizard, which opens a can of worms as Petunia says everything she felt about Harry's mother that she had originally been holding back. Finally, Harry has a clearer memory of the night his parents died with the new information Hagrid gives him about the wizarding world when Voldemort was in power.**

* * *

Chapter 4

Hagrid came into the staffroom with a loud bang and a large sob. "Yeh can' let Harry go back ter those muggles!"

The Heads of Houses and Dumbledore were currently having a meeting in the staffroom, and all had paused in their talk.

"Hagrid, come in!" Dumbledore said pleasantly as if this was a normal occurrence. "Have a seat please."

"Yeh _can'_ let Harry go back ter those muggles!" he repeated coming farther in the room. "He don' deserve this! Harry is the mos' carin' boy an' he don' deserve this! Those stinkin' muggles!"

"We are in the middle of a meeting." Snape sneered, his lip curled upward slightly. "It said just as much on the door, _'Heads of House Meeting, Staffroom closed'_." Hagrid ignored him.

"I'll take Harry, he can live with me!" Hagrid insisted.

Dumbledore pulled out the extra chair that was between him and Sprout, enlarging it slightly, and gestured to it. Hagrid hesitated, and then sat down.

"Should we not," Snape cut in. "Continue with our meeting?"

"I think we've touched on everything, and it's getting late." Sprout said rising. "I have to get back to reading."

"Reading, Pomona?" Flitwick asked.

She simply lifted a very large and thick stack of papers. "I'm grading essays."

McGonagall hummed shortly. "I saw you looking quite horrified at those papers shortly. I take it there was a particularly bad paper in that mix?"

Sprout looked uncomfortable. "It was terrible."

The two women stared at each other for a while, the others watching the interaction. Finally, McGonagall sighed deeply. "It was never my intention to read them."

Sprout sank back into her seat, and pulled out her wand to transfigure the stack of papers back into the first book. "I'm at the end of chapter three.

"I was just starting on chapter four myself." Dumbledore admitted looking quite grave.

"The pages o' the book're all soggy, I jus' couldn' stop cryin'." Hagrid sniffed. "I got all the way ter chapter three when I jus' couldn' take it no more."

"When I first saw the books, I hardly looked at them." McGonagall said. "Put them to the side to forget about, nearly burned them. I had no reason to read anything _she_ gave me. But I'd started hearing things that... that got me curious. I didn't want to believe it, but I had to know for myself."

"'S so sad. Yeh jus' can' let tha' sweet boy go back ter them muggles!" Hagrid said once again.

"I agree something must be done about Harry's living arrangements. I will visit the Dursley's at the start of summer and speak with them. I will make sure Harry is safe there. As for now, would you like some tea?"

McGonagall's head snapped up. "Excuse me?"

"Tea," Dumbledore said again. "Would you like more, Minerva?"

"Potter will not go back to that house, whether accompanied by you or not! I will not have my student anywhere near those muggles! I should have taken him that night, I'd seen with my own eyes how horrible they were!"

"They will not treat Harry poorly again." Dumbledore said with an air of finality.

Snape looked sour. "Are we quite finished?"

"Have you not taken the time to read the books yourself, Severus?" Dumbledore asked.

"I can assure you I have better ways to spend my time." Snape muttered. Truth was, when Weasley had come in yelling nonsense, his curiosity had been peaked. He read it. He got to the end of chapter two, the part Weasley was screaming about _no meals,_ and had to take a breather before going back to it.

Reading left him stuck. He did not mean for it to happen, but he sort of... identified with Potter. The situations weren't exact. The Dursley's mistreatment was mostly neglect, from what he'd read they didn't physically abuse him. But not having a home there, or feeling like he mattered... being _told_ he didn't matter... he identified with that.

"Why don't we take some time to read now. It looks like Pamona will be caught up with the rest of us soon, and I'm sure we can fill in any gaps for you." Dumbledore said pleasantly. Of course he knew Snape had taken the time to read, it didn't matter how well trained he was at Occlumency he still would have somehow knew. Snape glanced around the table. Sprout had her head in her book.

"I'd rather not."

Dumbledore just continued to stare pleasantly.

"But I suppose." Snape muttered. "Since I'm already here."

"Wonderful, why don't we move in front of the fireplace!" said Dumbledore. Hagrid took his handkerchief out, dabbing his eyes while Dumbledore enlarged a seat for him. Snape was making a face as if he'd eaten something bitter as he sat in the seat closest to the fire, away from Dumbledore and the giant. With one flick of his wand, the book fell into his lap and opened to the right page. He opened his mouth but Pamona raised a hand, not looking away from the book.

One more moment, and she nodded, closing her own book to listen to Dumbledore.

* * *

"And that is where the chapter ends." Dumbledore said. That chapter was not easy to read, though none of the chapters have been. It was still hard to know that he put Harry in that situation. Very sad to know Harry had such a clear image of what happened the night of his parent's death. Although he couldn't help but wonder _how_ it was that he had this clear memory. There was just no way Harry would remember this much about a traumatizing night when he was only one year old. This did, however, agree with some of the theories Dumbledore had... Theories that seemed more and more likely the more he learned about his student.

"I'd say the best chapter so far!" Flitwick said bouncing in his seat.

"Certainly the most satisfying." McGonagall said referring to Dudley's pig's tail. She glanced at Hagrid and sent him a small smile.

Hagrid, however, did not look the least bit happy. He was staring at Dumbledore, frowning.

"Are you alright, Hagrid?" Dumbledore asked. The high that a few of them were on from Harry finally learning he was a wizard came down as everyone looked at Hagrid's sad face.

"Yeh didn' warn me, Professor Dumbledore," he said. "Yeh didn' tell me he wouldn' know anythin'."

"I did not know myself." Dumbledore said solemnly.

"Are you telling me, Albus, that you didn't check on him at all?" Sprout asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Of course I checked in on him, but I did not know-"

"Then you didn't really do a good job then, did you?" Sprout interrupted, something she would never do, out of respect, if she weren't so upset.

"The important part was that he was safe, I checked in and made sure he was still alive and well. I trusted in his family to provide him a sustainable living environment."

"Well, that was not good enough." Sprout frowned. "Sir."

"I didn't know that he was told nothing." Dumbledore looked legitimately upset when he said this. "I admit I regret not paying more attention, but I truly thought they would tell him the truth. I knew of Petunia's resentment, but I thought she would let that aside for her family. Alas, I was mistaken."

McGonagall was a little bit irritated about Dumbledore's treatment of her student, but it simmered down after she heard this and she sighed. "I think this is something you need to speak to Potter about. He deserves to hear that from you himself."

Dumbledore let out a sigh, would that open doors into other questions he could not yet answer? There was also the fact that he had to stay away from Harry right now for reasons that would only burden the young boy.

"Hagrid, I never knew you were the one to tell Harry the truth." Flitwick brought up after a bit of silence. "Of course I never dreamed his aunt and uncle would keep that from him."

"Well it wasn' a grea' moment fer me. I wasn' prepared ter be the one ter tell'im." Hagrid sighed. "Tha' boy... he had no idea."

Sprout gave a small smile. "The way you told him too, no lead up or anything, it gave me a chuckle."

"Figured he jus' needed ter know." Hagrid scratched his head. "Erm... maybe I should've eased 'im inter it a bit."

"I think you did just as you should have." Dumbledore praised him. Hagrid didn't acknowledge this at all. Dumbledore needn't wonder why. He knew fair well how much he'd been idolized throughout the years, how mystical and brilliant he seemed. Many young witches and wizards were about to find out how human he was. Hagrid was finding out right now, and he was likely very confused about it all.

Snape, meanwhile, was thinking of Petunia's little speech, how she finally let out everything she was feeling about Lily and told Harry about his mother. She's gone through Lily's magical story, but he had to admit to himself that he was insulted that he hadn't come up at all. She told them how she got accepted, married _him_ , and then... well. But there wasn't a mention of himself at all. Although he supposed if he had been mentioned, Potter would have some questions that he would have no interest in answering. Still, Snape felt he was important enough in Lily's life that her sister wouldn't forget about him just as soon as Potter came around. But then again, didn't Lily?

Snape's mouth twisted in distaste just enough for McGonagall to look over at him. "You've been awfully quiet, Severus, any thoughts on Potter not being told the truth about who he was?"

"None." Snape answered said. "I've met Potter's relative's before, I'm well aware of how horrible they are."

"But I'm sure you had no idea he'd been treated like this!" Flitwick asked, gesturing to the book.

"Everyone has a tragic backstory." Snape sneered. "Mine is that I'm forced to hear about Potter's."

Dumbledore made a sound that could have been a cough or a chuckle, either way, it caused Snape to fall silent.

"How long did they think they were going to get away with all of this?" Flitwick asked continued.

"They have had so much power over Harry for so long," Dumbledore said. "And power can create illusions of invincibility."

Meanwhile, Sprout was still talking to Hagrid. "You don't have to answer this if you don't want to, but how did it feel? Speaking to Harry about the first war?"

"Hard. Lost a lotta good people in tha' war. But almos' worse was talkin' abou' the fear tha' came with You-Know-Who." Hagrid shivered. "I remember thinkin' _some o' these kids lived their whole lives withou' 'im,_ an' tha's good, of course. But fer me, it was like it was yesterday. You-Know-Who gettin' followers by the minute, never knowin' who you could trust..."

McGonagall, who had tuned back into this conversation, nodded sadly. "And now it will all start again."

"There's no sign of such a thing." Snape cut in. "All this talk of his return and our biggest threat at the moment is a ministry official."

"Severus," Dumbledore warned.

"I'm not saying he's not back." Snape said, almost regretting anything as he didn't want the attention on him. " _Obviously_ I know he is."

He drew the word 'obviously' out very long. Of course he knew he was back, he was currently putting his ass on the line because of that.

"I'm just saying he hasn't been showing his face." he continued.

"Of course not." McGonagall snapped. "Because he's busy plotting and discrediting Potter! Do not tell me you think when he started coming to the forefront without planning for the first war. You're smarter than that, Severus."

"It's just not the same feelings now as it was when I was young, is my point, because he hasn't confirmed his return." Snape said calmly. "Not everyone knows and believes of his return. There was fear and paranoia when I was younger that isn't around now."

"Yes, and you would know, as you helped cause it!"

"Minerva." Dumbledore calmly tried to stop her but she was not done yet.

"And believe me, Severus, there is still fear. Why do you think everyone is so adamant about denying his return? _That_ is fear, and that's how it starts. The ten death eaters that escaped Azkaban? That's him getting his followers. He's biding his time, strategizing. Then it will be the death of several families and it will just get worse from there. I know the signs! I saw it with my own eyes!"

"That's enough Minerva." Dumbledore said.

McGonagall sat back in her chair with her arms crossed. Wasn't she allowed to act out of instinct as well? She's a Gryffindor afterall.

"I'm sorry Albus," she said. "And to you as well Severus. This chapter has gotten me really wound up. Everything those muggles were saying, how they said they tried to beat Potter's magic out of him. That could have had serious consequences, could it not?"

Dumbledore let out a long breath. "Yes, it could have."

"Oh, the things I would like to do to those muggles." McGonagall growled.

"Minerva, awful may they be, they are _muggles_ " Dumbledore said. "And would have no way of defending themselves against a hex or curse."

"And are you to tell me that some muggles aren't deserving of such a fait?" McGonagall snapped. To her surprise, the headmaster went quiet, and from the distant look in his usually active eyes, he seemed to be thinking of something... or remembering something. "Albus?"

"It all leads you to Azkaban, Minerva" he finally said. "And where would I be without you?"

McGonagall gave Dumbledore a worried look. She was not expecting quite a reaction. But as to not draw anymore attention to it, she responded with, "I'll be sure to not get caught then."

Dumbledore gave her a small smile. "Something will be done about Harry's aunt and uncle, but I must take the blame as well. Though I must admit, I would often get word that Harry had a healthy amount of accidental magic while growing up. It was if he showed no signs of magic ability that I would be worried."

Sprout gave Dumbledore a thoughtful look. "Why is that?"

Dumbledore seemed, once again, to be remembering something but he still answered. "Had Harry known he was magical, he might have tried to suppress his magic. Doing this could not only have ended his family's life, but his life as well."

Snape glanced up at his headmaster. He thought he might have an idea of what Dumbledore was getting at, but he didn't have an extensive knowledge on it. Wasn't it... an obscurial?

"They coul' have killed 'im?" Hagrid repeated. Dumbledore nodded gravely. Hagrid let out a monstrous yell, more of a roar, "I SHOULD'A DONE MORE! I SHOULD'A DONE MORE 'AN WHA' I DID!"

"Hagrid!" McGonagall yelled, eyes wide. His rage was enough for hers to come down enough for her to think sensibly. "Hagrid, if you'd done more than what you did, you likely would have gotten in a lot of trouble. You could likely get in trouble for what you _did_ do."

"I DON' CARE! I DON-"

"Hagrid, remember who is reading these books!" McGonagall said quickly. Hagrid's face drained color, as he realized as soon as Umbridge found out what he did, he'd be in a lot of trouble. Terrified, he wondered if he could go back to Azkaban for this.

Dumbledore spoke up, "I will defend you, Hagrid. Please no this."

Hagrid didn't speak, he was shivering now.

"Hagrid do you need a moment?" Sprout asked.

"I'm alrigh', jus' didn' think 'bout that, s'all." he said softly.

Dumbledore's eyes lingered on his friend. "What you did was not that bad at all. And it was very creative."

"It's not worth Azkaban, is it?" Hagrid asked with a sigh.

"You will not be going to Azkaban Hagrid." Dumbledore said sternly. He looked at McGonagall for a second. "Some muggles _are_ deserving, and this had no lasting effects to my knowledge."

Hagrid gave another shiver.

"I never said thank you for defending me." Dumbledore continued. "I genuinely appreciate it."

Despite his mixed feelings towards the professor, Hagrid still felt Dumbledore was to be respected. Even if Dumbledore may have made mistakes, he was still a great man. "Leas' I could do. Yeh gave me a job, firs' as the gamekeeper, an' then fer teachin' Care o' Magical Creatures."

"My offer still stands, you can go back to school if you wish. I'm sure I can do the necessary paperwork." Dumbledore told Hagrid.

"Tha's alrigh', I'm happy where I am" he answered.

Dumbledore smiled. "Well I think we're done here. Why don't we do this again? We can plan for chapter eight on Sunday night?"

Hagrid got up, knocking his chair back. "Oh, sorry abou' that. I'll be here on Sunday, bu' please professor. Don' send Harry back ter them muggles."

With that, Hagrid picked his chair up and left with a small wave. Dumbledore changed his chair to the correct size. With a yawn, Sprout got up as well. "It's late, I should get going as well."

"As should I, but I'll be here Sunday night!" Flitwick grinned while sliding out of his chair.

Snape began to get up as well, when Dumbledore stopped him. "A word, Severus?"

Annoyed, he sank back into his chair. McGonagall gave Dumbledore a kiss on the cheek. "Goodnight Albus."

She left behind Flitwick and Sprout while Snape looked at Dumbledore expectedly. "Sir?"

"While the books are harmless at the current chapter we are at, we have to do something about the other books."

"What do you mean?" Snape asked.

"The Order, Severus." Dumbledore said. "There are many things in these books that need not be public knowledge."

Snape was so distracted by the appearance of the books themselves, he didn't even think about the trouble he could be in if one of the students went to their parents about his role in the war. Parents that could be close to The Dark Lord. Of course he could play up that he was double crossing them, but it was a risk he didn't want to take.

"We can't keep them from reading them, but perhaps we could keep them from speaking about what they've read." Snape said slowly. "I'll figure out the best way to do this and get back to you."

Dumbledore nodded. "Very well.

* * *

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	5. Diagon Alley

For those of you who don't know, this chapter's readers was a result of a poll I had. Here was the last AN where I talked about it.

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 _Thanks so much for participating in the little poll I had, group 1 ended up winning. But next chapter we will be reading with Hermione, so I hope that makes people feel better. For reference, here was the tally by the time I had started writing the chapter.:_

 _Group 1: 15_

 _Group 2: 14_

 _That being said, as I was writing, more people voted in reviews, tumblr, and on AO3. It was tied for a while but the last vote I got, which was yesterday on tumblr, was for group 2. So the final tally was this:_

 _Group 1: 17_

 _Group 2: 18_

 _Of course by then the chapter was basically finished and I wasn't going to rewrite it, but I just thought you'd be interested in the results. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter!_

 _Disclaimer, I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters and this is not a way for me to criticize the books. It's just how I believe the characters would react if_ they _read JK Rowling's brilliant work._

* * *

 **In this chapter: Harry is introduced to the wizarding world for the first time, and meets the first wizard his age. Their meeting doesn't go very well, as Harry realizes there are 'Dudleys' even in this world.**

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Chapter 5

"There's got to be a way out of this." Ron said again.

"When Umbridge said she was assigning reading & discussion groups did you think it would work out well for you?" Hermione asked. "That being said, this doesn't have to be the end of the world."

"That's easy for you to say, you're not with bloody Malfoy." Ron grumbled staring at his list. "And who are these other people?"

"Well Michael Corner, you remember him. He's in the-" she looked around her. They were meeting the others in the courtyard, so they were in the hallway on their way there. "DA."

"He's the bloke dating my sister in't he?" Ron flared up. "You mean I've got to read with him too?"

Hermione sighed and turned to Harry. "You're being quiet."

"Well, you know why she did this right?" Harry asked.

"I know." Hermione sighed. "But try to make the best of this situation, it's just chapters five, six, and seven."

Harry didn't think there was a _best_ of this situation, he spotted Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, Pansy and Blaise near the entrance. "Oh hello, Potter, glad you've finally decided to show up. I could be wrong but I believe we planned to meet here at three?"

"We're five minutes off, you'll live." Harry sighed deeply. "Let's just get this over with."

Hermione glanced at Pansy, who looked just as sour faced to be paired with her. But Hermione smiled at Dean, who was also in her group. She walked towards him and Pansy let out a huge groan and walked away as well.

"Hi guys," Hannah Abbott, Michael Corner, and a girl he had honestly never spoken to before approached their group. Hannah was the one to speak to him.

"Alright, where do you want to do this?" Michael asked. Ron glared at him, so he looked at the others.

"The study hall?" Hannah asked.

"There'll be about twenty groups in there, we're not going to hear anything." Blaise pointed out.

"Then maybe one of our common rooms." Michael suggested.

"That's not technically allowed." Lisa said.

"And anyway, I have no interest in going to any of your common rooms and you're not going into mine." Malfoy said.

"Alright then, what do you suggest?" Ron turned on him.

"I suggest we walk in the same direction, go our separate ways and then tell everyone we've done what we were supposed to do." Malfoy said.

Harry raised an eyebrow. It was likely the one time Malfoy said something he could get behind.

"I don't think that's a good idea." said the girl he'd never seen before. "If Professor Umbridge finds out we'll be in a lot of trouble, and I don't want to get on her bad side because of your rivalries."

"Who the hell are you?" Malfoy asked, arms crossed.

She took a step back. "Er... I'm Lisa." she looked around to blank looks. "Lisa Turpin. I've shared classes with all of you."

"I know who you are." Michael said. She ignored him and turned to Harry.

"We have History of Magic together." she said.

"Er... right!" Harry said. Ron let out a snort.

"Anyway," Malfoy said turning to Harry. "Do we have a deal?"

Harry was going to agree, honestly it wasn't a good idea to put him in an unsupervised room with Malfoy while he was already on edge about the books in the first place. But something stopped him. Someone, actually.

" _Hem, hem_." all of them jumped at the sound of Umbridge's voice. As he turned to look at her, he noticed her focus seemed to be on him.

"Are you looking for a place to read?" she asked kindly.

"Oh no, mam." Lisa said. "We've just decided to go into the Ravenclaw common room."

Malfoy flashed Lisa a really dirty look that Harry almost missed. Umbridge tapped her fingers on her hand. "Hmm. I don't think that's a good idea, after all if we wanted everyone going into each other's rooms we wouldn't have any passwords. You can sit in my office."

"Oh no, we're okay, mam," Malfoy said politely. "We'll find a place to go."

"I think," Umbridge said as she tapped her chin and her eyes continued to linger on Harry. "It would benefit you all if you read in my office, I'll make sure it's quiet."

They were silent as they walked to her office, Malfoy consistently sending mean looks to Lisa and Harry. As they entered the soft pink room, he saw Ron make a face like he smelled dung.

"Here we go, cosy right?" Umbridge said to no answer. "Well, I'll leave you to it."

As her door closed Ron shook his head slightly. "I thought _Ginny's_ room was too pink."

Malfoy took a deep breath and went to bring out his book, once again sending Harry a nasty look. "Problem, Malfoy?" Harry finally asked.

"Do I have a problem?" he asked incredulously.

"Well if you have something to say out with it." Harry said. He held himself back from saying _'With that look you're beginning to resemble your sour faced mother'_ as he was going to be stuck with Malfoy for a bit. Plus he was likely being watched.

"For one thing, you," he looked at Lisa. "If you had any brains, and I mean _any_ at all, you would have said a better place to meet than one where most of us literally are not allowed to go. And now we've been dragged into Potter's mess and we have to sit in this room together-"

"So let's get it over with then?" Blaise cut in with an impatient look at his friend.

They all seemed to finally be on the same page as they opened their own books. Harry's was quite obviously in the worse condition, as he had no qualms about flinging it around.

Just the sound of Malfoy's voice would be enough to put Harry on edge, he knew it would be the same for Ron and honestly likely the same for Malfoy if he or Ron read. Hannah must have realized this because she quickly said, "I'll read. I want to."

Hannah was flipping to the correct page as Lisa said, "This is sort of exciting! To hear of your first time in Diagon Alley! I was thrilled to be there!"

"And see you interact with the wizarding world for the first time." Michael agreed, ignoring Ron's side eye. "See you fit into robes and get your wand."

Draco started to get an itching feeling at the mention of the robes but ignored it. Meanwhile, Harry was mentally cursing himself. He really, _truly_ , did not want the truth about his wand to come out. As if the school wasn't quick to call him a dark wizard as it was, they'd love knowing about his wand's connection with Voldemort.

Ron could see that something was bothering Harry, but thought he maybe wouldn't ask until after the chaper. If one thing was true, it was that Harry's business was not private enough. "What are you doing?" Michael asked Blaise. They all turned to see him taking out parchment and a quill and ink.

"He likes to take notes while we read." Malfoy said. "He tends to have a lot to say, but doesn't like to interrupt the reader. So he writes it down to make sure he says everything he wants to bring up."

"Do you always talk for him?" Ron asked annoyed.

Blaise and Malfoy looked at each other and smirked briefly before Malfoy turned to Ron and said, "No."

"I think that's a brilliant idea." Lisa said. "Michael?"

"Yeah, a great one." He said as the two Ravenclaws went into their bags and pulled out paper for themselves. Finally, Hannah got to the page and opened her mouth to speak, but Harry stopped her.

"Erm-" Harry began. "Wait, er, I have to... uh... say something."

Hannah paused, her mouth open a bit, but lowered the book again.

"Okay..." he said. "You're going to find something out right here. And I can't really help what's coming up. I don't know how everyone else is going to react but I ask that you don't treat me different because of it."

He wasn't addressing Blaise and Malfoy at all in this, he didn't care what they thought. But he felt if he put it out there before it was revealed by the book, he could possibly have more than just Ron and Hermione as allies.

"Well you know I won't treat you any different." Ron assured him, though he kept glancing at the book curiously.

"I'm sure it's not that bad." Hannah said, pulling the book up. It was obvious she was now wondering what the book was about to reveal.

By the end of the chapter, the entire group ended up taking notes on the chapter just like Blaise, despite the strange looks they gave Blaise when he first pulled out his parchment, all of them had gotten their own for note taking by the end, except for Harry. He refused to take notes on his life.

Against all odds, they managed to get through this chapter with minimal interruptions. There was the scoff and the scowl that happened here and there, but no one commented on them. There were only two major breaks in Hannah's writing. The first one was when Harry met Malfoy in the book. But other than Malfoy saying, "That was _you_?" but they didn't go on further about it. The second interruption was when it came up that Harry's wand had the same core as Voldemort's.

He saw all eyes look either at him or at his wand, a few mouths were open.

"Is that what you were talking about?" Ron asked, not able to hide his shock. Harry nodded and looked down at his knees. But then he felt Ron clap him on the back. "It's not that bad, mate. Evil may he be, he's still a good wizard right?"

Harry glanced at Ron, his best friend's words reminding him of what Ollivander said. "Ollivander said basically the same thing."

"He did? Creepy..." Ron said.

"Yeah no kidding." Harry said.

"But that means I was right, doesn't it?" Ron grinned. "Even Ol' Oli agrees with me! Besides, the wands may be 'brothers' but so are me and Percy. And look how he turned out."

"Or your mum and her sister." Lisa said quietly with a slight smile.

Hannah smiled too. "It's really not that bad."

Draco was _thrilled_. He realized revealing to the Daily Prophet that Potter used to live like a house elf would only get him more sympathy. However, sending this kind of information would be perfect. This was just what he was waiting for, he was already writing his letter to them in his head.

"Let's finish," Hannah said. "We're almost done anyway."

Harry nodded and relaxed now that the worse was over. And when Hannah said she finished the chapter, Harry said, "So, you all want to hurry and get to the next chapter? So we can be done?"

That was not a popular decision, as everyone complained that they had points they wanted to discuss.

"How come I remind you of your dumbass cousin?" Malfoy spat out at Harry. Blaise looked like he was trying not to laugh.

"How could you _not_." Hannah muttered.

"If it's any consolation, I think I like you a little less than Dudley." Harry said.

"On what regards?"

Harry shrugged. "I mean the two of you are different, for sure, first impressions aren't entirely accurate. Like for example, you have a brain."

Ron was staring at Harry, but Harry wasn't done.

"I realized a while back that Dudley's just repeating what his parents have been enforcing. You're a bit more intelligent." Harry continued to more stares. "So you're just a bigoted piece of shit in your own right."

"Oh," Ron said with genuine relief. "I thought I lost you for a second there."

Blaise watched him. He actually thought Draco might copy what his father said more than Potter realized. Blaise never had a real problem with it, he liked Lucius, but he was aware of it.

"That was so strange!" Hannah said. "I think that was the most civil you two were with each other."

"I can't believe you forget you'd met the boy who lived." Blaise said.

"He never told me his name!" Malfoy shot back. "And believe me, I didn't expect _Harry Potter_ to walk in with baggy ass clothes and a giant following him!"

"Doesn't matter now," Harry said. "What you _should_ have been doing was taking notes on why I didn't shake your hand on the train."

Malfoy glared at Harry. "Believe it or not, _Potter_ , I've moved on from that day and couldn't give a damn why you didn't shake my hand." But he did seem to give this some thought and immediately contradicted himself by asking, "Wait, you didn't shake my hand because I made you feel stupid about the wizarding world?"

Blaise started sputtering. "What? Draco, did it occur to you that maybe he didn't shake your hand because you literally insulted the first person who was ever kind to him?"

Malfoy frowned. "Well I didn't know..."

Blaise stared at him. "You do realize _now_ , though, that you did everything wrong... right?" he said. "I mean you didn't even sound apologetic when he said his parents died. And speaking of that, you didn't take that as like... I don't know... a clue as to who he was?"

Malfoy said nothing. Harry and Ron looked at each other, quite amused with this turn of events.

"I mean, _you asked him if his parents were our kind_!"

"You wouldn't ask the same thing?" Malfoy countered with disbelief coloring his tone.

"Not right after hearing said parents are _dead_. It's tacky." Blaise frowned. "And if you asked better questions, like say, _what's your name_ , you would have gotten the answer anyway."

"Alright well shame _you_ weren't in there with him then," Malfoy snapped, obviously annoyed. Harry, thoroughly pleased, looked to his best friend. "What did _you_ take note of?"

"My biggest note is, where the _hell_ did Hagrid go after you got on the train? He can't apparate and he's the size of a tree!" Ron snorted. "My top theory is that he ducked down onto the floor to seem more magical and mysterious."

That got some laughs from a few people. "I don't know, would he do that?" Harry asked laughing.

"I would if I were him." Malfoy said. "It's not like he's got much else he can do with himself."

"Malfoy!" Blaise snapped as Harry tapped on his wand.

"Oh sod off, Blaise." Malfoy snapped, obviously still annoyed with his friend for him chewing him out in front of everyone. Blaise had a look that plainly said he wasn't stepping in anymore.

"Hagrid loves his job and everything he gets to do for Hogwarts and Dumbledore." Harry said.

"Oh yes I'm sure he has a great time cleaning up Unicorn shit in the forest." Malfoy scoffed. "Everything he took pride in doing are the same tasks I would use my house elf for."

"What house elf?" Ron asked. "Last I checked you don't have one anymore."

Malfoy sneered while Harry was aware that the others looked curious about that . "Just because your family is too poor to afford a wooden spoon doesn't mean mine can't get itself another bloody elf."

"How about buying yourself another personality?" Ron quipped. "Hagrid's great, any decent sort of person knows that."

Malfoy scoffed again.

" _I_ think Hagrid's brilliant!" Lisa said heatedly. "He was so sweet to Harry and did everything he could for him. Hagrid even told Harry he could send him a letter if Harry's relatives tried anything, and Harry needed that!"

Harry never contacted any of his wizard friends about his home life. Something satisfied him about leaving those worlds separate. And anyway, it wasn't anything he couldn't handle.

"Maybe he needed that at one point, but what does he need the giant for now?" Malfoy asked.

"Maybe Harry just likes his company," Hannah shrugged. "Not all relationships are about how it benefits the people in them, you know. Hagrid did a lot for Harry."

Harry nodded but Malfoy scoffed. " _Hufflepuffs_."

Hannah frowned. "There's nothing wrong with being a Hufflepuff."

Malfoy scoffed, like there were a million other things more important than the conversation this seemed to be leading to.

"And I suppose being a Slytherin is better?" Hannah flared up. "Having a head of house who's awful and biased and having everyone dislike you because you're entitled pricks? That's better?"

"Sit down you unappealing bag of hot air." Malfoy said. "We're trying to get through this so we can get out of each other's hair, aren't we?" Harry hoped she continued to put him in his place, but she simply glared.

Harry said loudly, "Those were great points, Hannah." Malfoy rolled his eyes, and unbeknown to him, so did Blaise. But Ron, who was the only one to see him do this, didn't think he was actually rolling his eyes _with_ Malfoy... but _at_ him.

"You know the whole 'no one bad hasn't come out of Slytherin' thing isn't true right?" Blaise cut in.

"Yeah, I know." Harry said. "Believe me, I've got personal experience with that one."

"Good. Well anyway, Hagrid may have been helpful at the end of the day, but I think it's weird that you just went out and followed the bloody giant you met yesterday." Blaise cut in.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"At the start of the chapter." Blaise clarified. "He said, _yer comin'_ " Blaise gave a pitch perfect impression of Hagrid that had all of them let out a surprised laugh, even if they didn't want to. "And you were like 'I haven't even known you for a full twenty-four hours but sure!'"

"He seemed trustworthy, and I gather myself to be a pretty good judge in character." Harry said glancing at Malfoy quickly. "Anyway, would you stay with my aunt and uncle?"

"Er... _no_. But he could have been a murderer for all you knew!" Blaise insisted.

"Maybe he thought it was still a dream." Michael said. "I mean he wanted the night before to be a dream."

"He didn't _want_ it to be!" Ron spat. "Why would he?"

Michael huffed, annoyed. "Yeah I know he didn't actually want it to be a dream. But he sure sounded like it in the beginning. He had decided it was one before he even fully woke up."

They all looked at Harry.

"Of course I didn't want it to be a dream." Harry said but left it at that. Truthfully, this was something he'd done often while living with the Dursleys. They didn't always treat him this way. Harry had distant memories of Aunt Petunia almost looking at him fondly, of having his own toys and actually _playing_ with Dudley, not just as his punching bag. At some point he supposed something switched or snapped for his aunt, and that's when he got a cupboard instead of a bed. Most likely it was after some showing of magic that caused this. Either way, Harry hadn't known why the change took place when he was that young, and hoped for a long time that it would go back to the way things were.

That never happened, and once he realized it would never happen, life was a little simpler. It was a little easier to expect to be looked down upon... like a disgrace... than to hope maybe that was the day things would get better because there was no let down.. There were days where his aunt maybe didn't look at him as filth, and when he was younger those were the times he'd have the most hope. When he got older, in order to not get this same hope, he'd have to tell himself he imagined it. It became fairly easy practice, and he supposed he'd started doing it with all good things before he'd even realized it.

"Do we know how these books came to be?" Blaise asked. They all shook their heads. Harry said _no_ bitterly. This was the cause of many sleepless nights. Sometimes he was afraid to even think, it was like someone was always inside his head. "I only ask because I think it's extremely well written. The imagery is fantastic! The part about the storm having ended, for example..."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "The storm _had_ ended."

"Yes but it was when you realized something good was happening to you." Blaise said and mentally added _for once_. "It was poetic."

Ron looked around and then back to Blaise. "I think you're the only one who cares about that."

Blaise slumped in his seat and crossed out his note. Malfoy smirked a little. "Fine, question for Potter then." Harry turned his head at him. "What do you take us for? Savages?"

Harry was definitely surprised by that. "What?"

"We have no bank and no government, is that right?" Blaise asked.

"I think he's referring to the fact that you were actually so stupid as to believe your parents kept gold in their house." Malfoy said.

"Oh, yes, of course, you're right, my extensive experience with money in the past should have told me otherwise." Harry deadpanned.

"You don't have to have experience with money you just need to use your brain." Blaise said. "And how come you didn't think we had a government either?"

"Not that there hasn't been evidence of this in the past, but you lack common sense, don't you?" Malfoy asked.

"Hey, maybe take your judgement and shove it up your arse, yeah?" Ron asked almost politely.

"The lack of common sense may be a side effect of who he's been living with." Blaise said ignoring Ron's statement. Ron was unsure of what to make of that. They were insulting Harry, but they were also insulting his relatives, and Ron honestly had no problem with that one.

"I had no idea what went on in the wizarding world!" Harry defended himself. "In the wizarding world, some _vaults_ are guarded by _dragons_!"

"Oh those are rumors." Lisa said. "Started by the Goblins to keep people from trying to break in."

The Malfoy family had one of those high security vaults, and Malfoy knew for a fact that it was not a rumor. "They're not rumors."

"Sure they are." Lisa said. "I read about that."

"You, and whatever book you read, have it all backwards." Malfoy said. _This is why her kind shouldn't mix with our kind_.

Lisa frowned. "Why would a book be wrong?"

"Probably because it hasn't been proven that there actually are dragons down there. The goblins like to keep the dragons secret cause it's not super legal." Blaise cut in. "I mean, it's not exactly _illegal_ because the goblins run by different rules, but they don't want to risk it. The only ones who know for sure are those who have the really old vaults that said dragons are guarding. They don't say anything because they _like_ having a dragon protecting their possessions."

Blaise didn't have old money, like the Malfoys, but every time his mother married, they needed a larger vault. The largest vaults tended to be towards the bottom, where the dragons were.

"And why are you telling us?" Michael asked. "We could report the dragons."

"Yes, go against the oldest wizarding families why don't you." Malfoy said. "That will work out well for you."

"I suppose that makes sense..." Lisa said thoughtfully. "The book did say the dragons were _most likely_ rumors... and I guess I thought the entire thing was so ludicrous it had to be. And it even said in the book Harry thought he saw a burst of fire when they were in the cart."

Every so often, when he would read the book, his classmates talked about eleven year old Harry as if fifteen year old Harry wasn't right there. It was really strange to hear. Hannah started giggling.

"Harry and Hagrid's ride in the cart was pretty funny." she explained when she got odd looks. "Although, did you really try to remember the direction of the maze?"

"Er... yeah." Harry shrugged. "And I figure I was doing quite well for a bit. I still remember it being about two more lefts a right and another left after that."

"But why?" Blaise asked.

"Wouldn't you?" Harry asked. "I didn't know how magic worked but if it ever crapped out on us like Dudley's toys and such likes to in the muggle world, I liked to have remembered my way."

Blaise whistled. "That's mad."

Harry was starting to get annoyed. "It's not mad, it's-"

"Ease up, Potter." Malfoy said giving Blaise an annoyed look. "He was paying you a compliment. Blaise seems to think most things that are mad are often brilliant."

Harry paused and looked at Blaise, who was narrowing his eyes at Harry as if he was reading him. "Oh."

"Yeah well," Blaise said looking down. "We'll call it selective memory, since you can't remember to mind your manners."

Ron was watching Blaise the same way Blaise had been watching Harry. If Harry knew Ron, and he felt he did, he knew Ron was calculating. He was trying to figure Blaise out.

"I think the greatest crime was that you didn't bother to get new clothes with any of your newly discovered fortune." Blaise said.

"Clothes have never been that important to me." Harry muttered.

"Obviously." Malfoy said. "Well lend some to Weasley then, he could certainly use it."

Ron held back a groan, he was really tired of Malfoy's jokes about his family's income. Of course, everything out of Malfoy's mouth was rubbish, but he'd be lying if he said it wasn't a sensitive topic for him. He glanced at Harry. Earlier in the chapter, young Harry had worried about not being able to afford Hogwarts.

Harry never had problems with money when in the wizarding world. But suddenly he realized just how different Harry's life in the wizarding world is compared to his life with muggles. Ron always knew to an extent, but it was different when it was right in his face like this. Suddenly, Ron looked back to every time he'd been jealous of Harry feeling a bit idiotic. Harry didn't even think he'd be able to _go_ to Hogwarts, and Ron knew all too well the feeling of sacrifice because he didn't have enough.

Malfoy was still going. "And it's a shame you didn't know Weasley before you realized you had gold, he could have given you some tips on being dirt poor!"

Ron's hand hovered over his wand, but he didn't actually need to pull it out.

"Merlin's pants, Draco, _shut up_!" Blaise said.

Malfoy scowled. Blaise never had a problem with him talking like this before. "Don't want me insulting your new friends?"

This actually caught both Harry and Ron by surprise. What was Malfoy on about 'new friends'? Harry hardly noticed Blaise Zabini before this year. He was one of those Slytherins who didn't hang around Malfoy, until halfway through this year. The few times he _did_ notice Blaise, the Slytherin was busy giving him dirty looks. So how could Malfoy consider them anywhere near friends, even sarcastically?

"We're stuck in a room with them." Blaise said. "Stop antagonizing them! For God's sake!"

Malfoy crossed his arms and leaned back, silently glowering at the floor. Ron and Harry were practically beaming at their enemy being shut down like this.

"Anyway, Potter, I have another question." Blaise said. "Sort of off topic but whatever. I'm sure you're aware you could get likely anything you wanted just by saying your name, have you ever used this to your advantage?"

Harry gave Blaise a once over. It was strange, the guy seemed alright. He even seemed like the type of bloke Harry could get along with in different circumstances. But he was a _Slytherin_ and not only that, but he was _Malfoy's friend._ Plus, Harry wasn't certain, but he thought he might share the same ideologies as Malfoy about muggles and muggle borns. But the question seemed genuine.

"Er... no. I've never wanted to." Harry answered.

Malfoy snorted.

"Hmm." Blaise said. "Okay then, those are all of my notes."

"I have a question." Michael said. Ron let out an exaggerated sigh. "Do you know if Hagrid's umbrella-wand-thing is authorized by the ministry?"

"Who cares?" Ron spat.

Michael huffed with annoyance. "It's just, he could get in trouble with the ministry now that _the ministry_ is informed of this stuff."

Harry's blood ran cold and he glanced at Ron, who looked just as surprised. Apparently the thought hadn't come to him either. He knew Umbridge had it out for Hagrid anyway.

"Don't get your knickers in a twist." Malfoy said. "I doubt she cares so much."

And, in a backwards way, this actually did help to ease their nerves.

"Does anyone else have anything left to add?" Hannah asked. No one spoke up. "Then we managed to get through our first chapter with no casualties. Just two more chapters and we can all get out of each other's hair."


	6. The Journey From Platform 9&34

_Disclaimer, I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters and this is not a way for me to criticize the books. It's just how I believe the characters would react if_ they _read JK Rowling's brilliant work._

* * *

 **In this chapter: Harry makes his first friend, Ron Weasley, and they talk about their lives before Hogwarts, and Harry learns more about the Hogwarts houses. Harry also meets a few other students, gets his wand, and officially makes his first enemy at Hogwarts, Draco Malfoy.**

* * *

Chapter 6

Hermione sighed, the book in her lap feeling oddly heavy. She sat in the clock tower courtyard on the edge of the fountain facing her other group members, opposite the pear tree. She wondered how Harry and Ron were doing. She'd seen them leave with Umbridge and she really hoped that they had enough sense to ignore whatever Malfoy said to irritate them. Sometimes Ron and Harry riled each other up, and she felt like she often stopped them from doing anything too bad. They really did have a bad group, although hers wasn't great either.

Dean was much closer to Harry and Ron than he was to her, but he was nice enough, so he wasn't bad. Padma was Parvati's sister, and while Hermione and Parvati never really got along, Padma seemed nice and they seemed to agree often. Susan was also very nice and she talked with her sometimes in Herbology. However, she was also stuck with Theodore Nott, who, she now knew, was like a quieter version of Malfoy. He had the same stupid ideologies, he just didn't make a fuss over them in public. She was also with Zacharias Smith, who was irritating and rude and entitled and nearly as annoying as Malfoy to her. Nearly. And then there was Pansy, who decided to spend all of the chapter finding ways to insult her.

Hermione did notice, however, Pansy seemed to be growing a soft spot for Harry. She got in an argument with Nott about why Malfoy had been an 'idiot' last chapter, which ended in her dropping a pear on him by using the cutting spell. He moved from under the pear tree after that.

"What are you waiting for?" Smith sneered at her. "Don't you want to be finished, get on reading the next chapter!"

Hermione felt like her patience was really being tested here.

While they were reading, Smith would shot out the occasional ignorant comment. He'd been told to shut it by everyone else at least once while they were reading, if for no other reason than because it was making the reading take longer. Hermione, though she had a bit to say, managed to keep her mouth shut. Well, until one part. They had just gotten to the part where Ron asks about Harry's scar when Hermione commented before she could stop herself.

"He shouldn't have asked about Harry's scar," Hermione blurted out.

"Oh so you get to call out, but I don't?" Smith sneered.

"No, she shouldn't be interrupting herself either." Nott said.

"Yes, you're right sorry." Hermione admitted sheepishly. "But honestly, his mum told him not to ask about it."

"Actually, she told Fred and George not to," came another voice from the doorway. They all turned surprised to see Ginny Weasley standing there. "'Ello!"

"What are you doing here, Weasley?" Pansy sneered. Ginny narrowed her eyes at her as she came farther into the courtyard.

"Are you making a face at me, I can't often tell, it's so horrible either way." she said simply and then turned to Hermione. "D'you know where Harry's group is? I've been looking up and down the castle for them."

Both of them were keeping their eye on Pansy, who looked likely to hex the moment she could. Hermione kept her hand on her wand. "I don't know for sure but they left with Umbridge, so you could check her office."

Ginny groaned. "Harry has the worst luck in the world."

"Have a question for Harry? Or Ron?" Hermione asked curiously.

"Just wanted to speak with Michael for a moment."

"Do you mind leaving?" Nott spat. "We're trying to finish this chapter."

Peaking over Hermione's shoulder she said, "My group already finished that chapter."

"Who are you reading with?" Hermione asked, she heard Nott groan.

"Officially I'm the lone Gryffindor in a group with a load of prats, including this girl Prissy whom I despise. We all agreed to go our separate ways and just say we read together, my brilliant idea, of course." Ginny was grinning and Hermione chuckled. "Honestly Umbridge doesn't really care about my class anyway. She wouldn't notice if I were reading with my group or Merlin's left nut."

"Ginny!" Hermione scolded while Dean laughed.

" _So_ I decided to read with Luna and Colin." she finished.

"How come your mum asked where the platform was?" Smith asked. "Doesn't she have enough kids to know?"

Ginny sighed, looking as though she'd been asked this many times. If she had gone from reading group to reading group looking for Michael, she probably had. "Yes, that's how she knows there's always a family looking for it, she asks it every year. It's how Percy-" she paused and frowned. "It's how he met Penelope Clearwater in his first year. Don't you wonder why there are no instructions on how to get onto the platform for muggleborns? It's a wonderful icebreaker."

She sighed. "Anyway, I'll be going." she waved at Hermione, and also at Dean, who she didn't know as well but was friendly with nonetheless. He waved back a little too eagerly than Hermione thought he meant to.

Pansy never ended up firing a shot, likely knowing it wasn't the time or place. Hermione sighed and brought the book up to finish reading.

* * *

"How did Neville's toad get in the boat?" Susan asked.

"Draco stole it to experiment spells on it." Pansy said. Hermione's jaw dropped.

"He took another student's pet and tried spells on it?" Hermione seethed.

"He didn't know enough to do any damage." Pansy rolled her eyes. "Are we nearly finished yet?"

Still angry, Hermione spat, "We _are_ finished."

"Thank Merlin, this is the longest Saturday of my life." Pansy groaned.

Hermione bookmarked the page and closed the book. "We still need to discuss what we read, _and_ we have another chapter to read."

"What's there to discuss?" Smith asked. "It was just the train ride, nothing really happened."

"We saw how the Gryffindor trio met." Dean said. "That's cool."

Hermione gave him a strange look at such a title, but didn't comment on it.

"Alright fine, we'll talk about it." Pansy rolled her eyes. "We can talk about how Draco was still an idiot."

Nott threw his hands up in indignation. "What was wrong with what he did? He just offered to be friends and even to help him navigate through the wizarding world."

" _That_ was fine, he was being political." Pansy said. "Although I wasn't surprised Potter didn't take his hand. He didn't grow up like us."

Being in the pureblood society meant finding the person who'd take you higher in life, and sticking with them if offered. Harry, and many others actually, didn't know this. He went for loyalty, which Pansy didn't actually think was very smart, all things considered. Afterall, he'd only known Weasley for a few hours, and he knew absolutely nothing about the wizarding world.

"It's what he did _after_ Potter refused his friendship that I have a problem with. Instead of trying to earn his friendship through time, he insulted Harry's parents. In doing so, he ruined any chance for any future type of mutually beneficial relationship."

"Potter made it perfectly clear his feelings about it." Nott argued.

"Oh yes, but I don't think the door was completely closed. Draco could have charmed him throughout the year, Malfoys are quite good at that, and slowly work up to being friends. But I suppose he was young, he made a mistake. Either way, being enemies with the Boy-Who-Lived, not his greatest move."

"I suppose your chummy with him, are you?" Nott challenged.

"I'm not his enemy." Pansy answered. When Nott didn't respond, Hermione continued to read, while putting it back in her mind to do research on the culture of old pureblood families. She was happy to have something new to look up.

Truthfully, if they weren't stressing her best friend out, she would love the books. It was a fascinating read. Like how Hermione learned that Harry and Malfoy met before school, that was something she had not known. And Harry and Ron being quiet together in their first meeting when they were only ever quiet together when they'd gotten in that fight last year. And of course, she knew she wouldn't get along with them until later in their first year. These relationships were all unrecognizable now.

Susan must have thought similarly. "I love that we get to see how they became friends! It's so nice!"

"Yes it is," Hermione agreed.

"It makes sense that Potter's friends with you." Nott said to Hermione. "He only had books for friends as well."

Pansy spoke up saying, "It didn't do him any good. He's still an idiot in class."

Hermione felt like Pansy was saying this just so that no one thought she was warming up to Harry. It didn't have as much of a bite as when she's thrown insults in the past. Nevertheless, Hermione felt the need to stick up for her friend since he wasn't here to do so himself. Especially since she had a feeling either in this chapter or the next, she would make an appearance and he'd likely be doing the same for her with whatever insults Malfoy had for her.

"The class I'm sure you're referring to is potions, where he's taught by Professor Snape who is biased and obviously dislikes Harry. He's fine in his other classes." She raised an eyebrow at Pansy. "How are you in Defense?"

Hermione knew quite well that defense did not come naturally to Pansy, and she felt some satisfaction when Pansy just curled her lips as if she were tasting something sour.

"Well our proof of his intelligence came early in the chapter." Smith began. "When the Weasley twins were asking him who he was, he was acting like he forgot!"

"Or," Padma interjected. "He feels so removed from those stories and the legend that is _Harry Potter_ he doesn't even really associate himself with it."

"Fine." Smith conceded. "But why did he wait until the day before the morning he's supposed to go to ask his uncle for a ride to the station?"

"Maybe he put off having to speak to his awful relatives." Hermione bit out. "For example, if I had to speak to you about something, I'd likely put it off just like Harry did."

Hermione closed her eyes and caught herself, she really shouldn't be snapping like that, but he could be so irritating. Either way, what she said seemed to amuse Dean and Susan.

"Some of the things Potter and Weasley revealed to each other in their first meeting, I'd never admit." Nott cut in after a moment of silence. "Like how fast Weasley was to tell Potter how poor he is, for example."

" _I_ was embarrassed reading about that. Can't their mother see what this is doing to him, having all of these children?" Pansy groaned. "She can't even afford to get new robes for her other kids. Maybe they should have thought of that and stopped after their first one."

Hermione realized Pansy might be getting a soft spot for _both_ of her friends.

This didn't stop her from saying, "That's really their decision, isn't it? At least they're all decent human beings. And anyway, what do you want her to do? Unbirth her children?"

"Well I'm sure she could accomplish exactly that if she was truly dedicated." Nott answered with a menacing smile. "There's a spell for everything, you know."

"That's disturbing." Susan said.

"And anyway, sharing such personal things with each other probably made their friendship stronger." Hermione said. She thought about how close they seemed when she'd met them for the first time. They already looked like they were really good friends. Her eleven year old self wouldn't have been surprised if they'd known each other for years.

"I thought it was really sad when Ron was talking about never being able to live up to his brothers' legacies." Padma said. She wondered if maybe she could speak to Ron about this sometime. Parvati was always the more outgoing twin, the funny one, even the pretty one despite them having very close to the same face. She knew quite well what it was like to be compared.

"We're straying from the point, I would _never_ admit to being treated like Potter's treated by his relatives." Nott said.

"His _horrible_ relatives." Susan insisted. "At least they didn't bother him in the beginning of the chapter."

Hermione said nothing to this. While she was grateful they were too afraid to abuse him more, neglection wasn't much better, and he wondered if they bothered to feed him at all or if he had to go about doing so himself. And being alone like that was likely not good for his disposition. She felt herself get emotional and shook her head to herself as her eyes stung with the threat of tears. She'd been crying practically since they read chapter two, but she managed to keep it together the last two chapters. Though she did have a close call when Mrs. Weasley made her appearance in the chapter. It had been the first time, in a long time anyway, Harry got a bit of motherly love. Harry was such a good person, he deserved to be treated as such.

"I hate them. I hate the lot of them. The way they left Harry to his own devices, he's eleven for crying out loud!" Dean ranted.

"Not to mention the aunt likely knew exactly how to get onto the platform since her sister had gone." Susan spat.

"Oh just wait," Padma huffed. "If Harry never gets back at them, _I_ will. Just wait."

"But _why_ wait, Patil?" Pansy began. "You have their address, it's right here in the book, and there are some creative things you can do with a letter."

Hermione bit her lip. She felt like she needed to say how much that was a bad idea, how it wasn't actually allowed. How the Dursleys didn't have someone who could reverse whatever was done to them, and they'd be stuck with whatever they got. But she _wanted_ to tell them both to do it. She wanted to help, she wanted to give them ideas of her own. She knew quite a handful of deformity spells and she didn't care nearly as much about the _rules_ anymore. ...If she just gave some tips, it couldn't be traced back to her, could it?

"But more importantly," Pansy began. "When Potter revealed how he lived, why didn't Weasley report any of this to a professor?"

Hermione raised her eyebrows.

"Don't be so shocked, Granger." Pansy muttered. "I'm not a monster and Potter was still a child."

"Well," Hermione began. "If I know Harry, he downplayed his mistreatment immensely. Besides, Ron was really young."

"Everyone in this is." Dean said. "Especially Ginny. She was really cute."

"She was an annoying addition to the story." Smith said. "Crying for no reason."

"Not no reason, she was crying because all her brothers were gone!" Susan said.

"Honestly she should've been happy." Pansy said. "It's probably the first time she gets the house to herself, personally I'd love it."

"It's probably scary for her." Padma frowned. "She always had Ron, and now she doesn't. I'd be the same way if Parvati was older than me."

Hermione knew because she was friends with Ginny that Padma hit it right on the head. Ron and Ginny were actually very close when they were young, they even shared a room and were together almost as much as Fred and George, though Fred and George seemed to share a mind. When Ron left, she was alone for the first time, and by the time she got to Hogwarts, he had already found a new best friend.

" _And honestly,"_ Ginny told her last year. _"Who wants to compete with Harry bloody Potter?"_

"Well I think this story is _very_ informative." Pansy smiled in a sinister way. I mean how interesting is it that the blood traitors don't talk to their non magic cousin? Sort of hypocritical, isn't it? Well I'll be sure to remember that the next time they act better than everyone because they like to frolic with muggles."

"I'm sure there's a perfectly good reason for why they don't talk about him." Hermione said. Pansy didn't seem to pay attention to what Hermione said at all.

"I think this story is supposed to be a comedy." Nott snickered. "I mean, Potter thinking the _Weasleys_ were one of the families Draco had been talking about?"

Parkinson and Nott broke into hysterics, but Hermione was not amused. "It's not a story, it's Harry's life." They ignored Hermione, and she was getting quite angry. "Why _aren't_ the Weasleys considered to be one of the stories Malfoy was talking about? I mean, they're on the Sacred Twenty-eight list, aren't they?" Hermione said loudly. "Didn't your grandfather write that, Nott?"

They stopped laughing and Nott frowned. "And where did you hear that?"

"I read it." she said simply. It had been hardly a footnote in a book she was reading, but she remembered it.

"What's the Sacred twenty-eight?" Dean asked.

"The only true pureblood families." Susan answered. "Published in like the thirties."

"Oh," Dean said thoughtfully. "So your family would be on it?"

"No." Nott answered. "You cannot trace the Bones family back far enough."

"But the Weasleys are on there." Dean raised an eyebrow.

"Yes." Nott said, looking quite unhappy to say so.

"Fascinating, isn't it?" Padma said to Dean.

"Yes," Nott drawled sarcastically, looking quite unamused. "Quite."

Hermione looked around. "Anyone else have anything to add?"

Dean simply shrugged. "I enjoyed the chapter, I'm glad we're away from his aunt and uncle."

"Agreed." Padma said. "It should be a much better read."

"Except you're forgetting," Dean said. "Harry's one of the unluckiest people out there."

Most of them chuckled, even the Slytherins. But Smith, who seemed to be unable to express any emotion except skepticism, was frowning.

"That's not entirely accurate." he said. "I mean, sure he claims he fought You Know Who-"

"He did fight him!" Hermione snapped.

"And if he did, and lived, _again_ , well I'd say that's pretty lucky. Being the only person in the whole world in the _history of time_ to survive the killing curse, also pretty lucky." he continued. "Anyone else goes against You-Know-Who and they die, and he _says_ he-"

" _He did fight him_!" Hermione yelled, finally having enough. She was on her feet, her wand pointed towards his mouth. "I'm not known for my patience, Smith, stop testing it."

Dean whistled. "I would just listen to her."

Hermione kept an eye on him, then slowly went back to her seat, being sure to keep her wand out. Something she's learned about herself is that keeping Harry and Ron's tempers in check, something that was quite hard at times, often helped to keep her own temper in check as well. Without them here, she thought it was very possible that Smith would leave out of here looking more like a large flubberworm than a human.

"Are we done discussing the chapter yet?" Pansy asked.

"We can be." Hermione said. "Should we take a break? Stretch our legs or something?"

"No." Nott said. "The Weasley girl said she was already finished with this chapter when we were hardly halfway done. It's taking us far too long, and I'd like to be done soon."

It was lucky Hermione was used to reading and sitting for long amounts of time, because she was tired enough that she wouldn't have minded a break. That being said, she agreed she wanted to be done. With a sigh, she summoned a pear from the tree, took a bite, and turned to the next page.


	7. The Sorting Hat

_Disclaimer, I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters and this is not a way for me to criticize the books. It's just how I believe the characters would react if they read JK Rowling's brilliant work._

* * *

 **In this chapter: Harry and his classmates get sorted into their houses, and some surprising news comes out about where Harry could have gone instead of Gryffindor.**

* * *

Chapter 7

Ginny walked away from the clocktower courtyard, the sound of Hermione reading growing fainter as she went. She went down the stairs to where she knew Umbridge's office to be. Luckily, Umbridge wasn't anywhere in sight, although she was probably watching somewhere. She half expected the door to be locked and her boyfriend trapped in there with her brother and his best friend. When she opened the door, she also fully expected wands out or a full on duel. Luckily that's not what she was met with.

"I'm not sticking up for Potter!" that one Slytherin boy Ginny didn't know said to Malfoy. "I'm just saying, if you wanted to be on his good side, there were better ways to go about it!"

"Oh shut the hell up, Blaise!" Malfoy yelled back, and Ginny learned that the boy's name was Blaise. She did not expect that the two people arguing would be the Slytherins while Harry and Ron watched with amused looks.

"Seriously, can we get back to reading?" Hannah Abbott asked timidly.

"Hannah's right-" Harry started.

"You shut up too, Potter!" Malfoy turned on Harry. "I stand by what I said, you keep bad company. _Weasels and Mudbloods_..." Malfoy let out a scoff. All amusement left her brother and his friend's faces. The next second wands were pulled, Ginny felt her own hand fly to her wand on instinct for the insult to her friend, but she calmed herself. Behind the chaos, Michael was hitting his head with his book over and over, Hannah was practically hiding behind hers, and... who was that other girl who was staying far away? Must have been that girl in the reading group who Michael identified as Lisa Turpin.

This was _now_ much more of what she had expected when she opened the door. Not wanting to see anyone get hexed or cursed, at least not right at that moment, Ginny used her perfected Umbridge impression.

" _Hem, hem!_ "

Most of them jumped nearly a foot in the air, except Harry. She could never scare him with her Umbridge impression, it was annoying.

"Ginny!" Ron exclaimed. "You nearly scared the piss out of me! What are you doing here?"

"Yes, _what_ are you doing here?" Malfoy spat. Ginny ignored him, and saw that his Slytherin friend was looking her up and down, which was creepy. Looking away from the Slytherin examining her, she turned to her brother.

"I wanna talk to Michael." she said simply. Ron's face fell into a scowl, and Ginny just barely managed not to roll her eyes. Michael, however, looked thrilled as he practically ran out of the room and into the hall.

"Hey Gin," he said kissing her cheek. She gave him a small smile.

"I've been looking up and down this bloody castle looking for your reading group, I probably know it as well as Fred and George now," she said knowing this to not be true at all. "How's the reading going?"

Michael raised an eyebrow. "You went all around the castle to ask me this?"

"You're with Harry and Malfoy, and my _brother_." she pointed out. "I needed to make sure you were still alive. And anyway, after all of the work I went through I wasn't going to give up anytime soon."

He chuckled weakly. "I suppose it could be worse. All of us agree we'd like to be finished as soon as possible, so we're trying to get through it."

Ginny nodded. "That's good."

"Yeah, I just wish your brother..." he trailed off. "Never mind."

"No, what's my brother doing?" Ginny questioned.

"Nothing!" he said quickly. "He's not doing anything, he's just... I don't know... rude to me I guess. But that's expected isn't it? I'm dating his- where are you going?"

Ginny had already started walking back into the reading group. Unlike moments ago, they all seemed to settle on a cold, stoney silence. "Ron, a word?"

Ron raised an eyebrow, but he looked like he was just about ready to leave the room as well, so he got up without a question. When Ron followed her out, Michael looked mildly uncomfortable.

"Michael, could you give my dear brother and I some privacy?" Ginny asked sweetly. Michael did as he was told. "Right, are you being rude to him?"

"No." Ron answered.

"Really? Because he said something different."

"I didn't hex him didn't I?" Ron shot back. "I'd say I'm doing a good job in there."

Ginny let out a long breath before responding, "I'd appreciate it if you'd not treat him like a load of dung."

"And I'd appreciate it if he not _be_ a load of dung." Ron said. "It's a cruel world, we don't all get what we want."

"I'm not asking you to like him, frankly, I don't care," Ginny began. "But he's my boyfriend, and-"

"Right, about that. I think you're too young to be-"

"I'm fourteen!"

"I know! You didn't see me running around with girls when I was fourteen!" Ron fired back.

"Not because you didn't try, if you had it your way, Fleur Dela _barf_ would have been all over you last year!" Ginny yelled. "Pathetic, you are. Just stop being an arse."

Ron was glaring at her, and she was glaring back.

"I'll ignore him." he said finally. Ginny knew how stubborn Ron could be, her whole family could be quite stubborn sometimes, so she decided to accept this.

"Fine." she said. "I suppose that's better than being out-right rude to him."

Ron stopped glaring and gave her one of his lopsided smiles. She smiled back, because even though Ron was infuriating, she was probably closer to him than any of her other siblings, and he probably felt the same way. As annoying as it was, this protectiveness was his way of showing he cared.

"I've got to get back to my group." she said. "As do you."

He nodded, and she turned on her heel ready to go up many steps. Her reading group, Luna and Colin, were likely still waiting for her to return to the Room of Requirement. They decided to go in there because they figured no one else would. All of the reading groups were mixed mostly evenly with houses, and no one in the DA would want to share the location of their meetings with the Slytherins. And if they did, Ginny would hex them. Her Bat-Bogey hex was really spectacular.

"Hello Ginny!" Luna said as if it were their first time seeing each other that day, when she saw her not fifteen minutes ago.

"Hi Luna," Ginny said as she sat on the chair that she claimed as her own when the room provided it. The room was _much_ smaller than it usually was when the DA trained in it. Colin simply smiled at her, relaxing into his chair. Colin was a naturally hyperactive boy, but sometimes he was just relaxed. Turns out reading books is one of the things that causes him to relax, which was nice, because Ginny can only take so much high energy. Unfortunately, he was getting more and more excited the more they read, likely because the entire book was about Harry Potter.

"Ready to get started?" Colin asked sitting up more. "I'll read this chapter since you and Luna read the last ones."

Ginny nodded, tucking her legs into the couch. Ginny was more excited for the sorting than probably anyone else in the school, and that even included Colin. Her sorting took a really long time and she was really embarrassed about it. But Hermione told her that Harry's sorting took a long time too. Ginny supposed she was excited to have a connection like that with Harry, and not because he was the boy who lived. But because he was someone who she could relate to.

So when it was revealed that he was almost sorted into Slytherin, she was positively _giddy_.

"Wait, stop," Ginny said giggling. "Are you telling me... Harry was almost in _Slytherin_?"

Luna wasn't phased, Colin looked like everything he was ever told was a lie. "He was... almost... a Slytherin?"

"Would that change how you saw him?" Luna asked.

"No." Colin said immediately, but his face said something differently. Ginny was still laughing, she couldn't help it.

"Oh this is brilliant." she said through her laughter. "Oh my gosh, imagine how everyone's going to react! Oh the Slytherins! What are _they_ going to say?" Ginny began to laugh again. "Oh, oh can we go see?"

"See?" Colin repeated.

"Everyone's reactions! Can we see? Let's go!" she said grabbing Luna's arm and pulling her out of the door.

"But-" she didn't hear the rest of what Colin said because she was already dragging Luna down the hall. The first place she went was the Transfiguration courtyard, as that was where the twins were reading. She was just at the entrance when she heard the toad's voice.

"Ginny!" panted Colin but she hushed him as she listened.

"You are supposed to be reading with your groups!" Umbridge was hollering. "I seperated you, George Weasley is supposed to be reading with an entirely different group!"

"Honestly I think you should consider it a miracle we're reading with these people at all." said who Ginny knew to be Fred.

"Certainly should exceed your expectations, meaning you should certainly be giving us an E as our overall grade." George continued. Not wanting to get a lecture as to why she wasn't reading with _her_ group, Ginny decided to continue on her way and go back to Hermione and her group in the clock tower courtyard, but from sticking her head out and listening, they were still discussing chapter six. Finally, she went back to the group where her boyfriend was, still holding onto Luna, Colin still following them. It turns out they'd all pulled it together enough to be reading after all, and they were at the perfect spot. Hannah was currently reading about the horrible thoughts that were hitting Harry as they got closer to his name being called for the sorting.

"Ginny-" Colin began but Ginny shushed him.

"Harry, you're alright aren't you?" they heard Ron ask. "The last time you looked this uncomfortable was when we were about to read about your wand."

"You can't have _another_ wand that's the brother of You-Know-Who's," said someone Ginny didn't recognize, perhaps Lisa Turpin?

"It's nothing," he muttered. They continued to read, and then the part Ginny had been waiting for came. The hat said that Harry'd be great in Slytherin, and there was a pause. And then,

"WHAT?" came Ron's voice. Ginny put her hand to her mouth to mute her laughter.

" _You_ were almost in Slytherin?" Malfoy asked. "Salazar Slytherin would roll in his grave."

"I can't believe you were almost a Slytherin," said Hannah.

" _What?_ " Ron said, this time more to himself.

"Would you stop being friends with me if I were a Slytherin?" Harry asked timidly, and suddenly this was less funny to Ginny. Apparently Harry was really broken up about this.

"What?" Ron said again, and now Ginny just wanted to hex him.

"I don't understand, honestly," said... was that Blaise? Yes, Ginny thought so. "You're _so_ Gryffindor. You're the epitome of Gryffindor. You are Gryffindor embodied."

"Thank you." Said Harry curtly. "Ron?"

"What?"

Ginny had to do something, Harry was being so earnest and Ron was being so _stupid_. "It doesn't matter that you were almost in Slytherin," she said walking in.

"What are _you_ doing _back_?" Malfoy sneered at her.

"Ginny?" asked Ron. So the prat was able to say something other than _what_ then.

"Hello brother of mine, I believe Harry asked you a question." Ginny said. He blinked for a moment and turned abruptly to Harry.

"Uh... what?"

Ginny's hand twitched.

"Harry wants to know if you two would still be friends if he were sorted into Slytherin." Luna said coming in as well.

"Oh of course, now _Loony Lo-_ "

" _Silencio!_ " Ginny hit Malfoy with the spell so hard he fell back. "Be glad that wasn't something worse. Well Ron?"

"It doesn't matter to me Harry!" Colin said, sounding more genuine than when he was asked earlier. He was also a lot more excited, seeing Harry just seemed to bring this out of him. Malfoy, though silent, seemed to be trying to show his exasperation with Colin being there as well. "You'd be the first good Slytherin!"

"Thanks Colin." Harry said politely, still looking at Ron. Ron still looked like he'd been hit in the head with a bludger.

"Ron!" Ginny snapped. Ron jumped. "Does it matter that Harry was almost in Slytherin?"

"Wha- er no," he said still looking confused. "No, no. No of course not."

That was much better, and Ginny smiled.

"No," Ron continued. "It's just, blimey, it surprised me. You could have warned me."

Hannah gave Harry a smile. "It really doesn't matter much, Harry, I reckon a lot of us could have been sorted somewhere else."

Malfoy made a gesture as if to say he was not among these people.

"I was almost in Gryffindor." Hannah continued.

"I was nearly out in Ravenclaw." Blaise said. Malfoy looked him up and down, before seeming to decide this didn't affect anything. He likely thought something along the lines of 'Better Ravenclaw than Gryffindor or Hufflepuff.'

Ginny asked, "Luna, you were under the hat for a very long time. What house were you almost put in?"

"I was always going to go to Ravenclaw, but I had a nice chat with the hat." Luna smiled. "He doesn't get to talk to many people. I should find a way to say hello to him."

Malfoy was looking at Luna like he was completely baffled by her.

"I was almost put in Slytherin." Ginny finally admitted. It was why she was so giddy about learning that Harry had almost been as well. She had figured she was the only Gryffindor to almost be put in Slytherin, but here was proof that she wasn't the only one. But being honest with herself, she sometimes wondered if she was almost in Slytherin because the sorting hat was picking up on Tom Riddle already having a hold of her. She had already been pouring her soul into the diary by that point. She gave an involuntary shudder.

"Were you really?" Ron asked. "Well, that's interesting, I'll have to tell Fred and George."

"Why?" Ginny questioned.

"We thought there was a chance you'd be sorted into Slytherin," he admitted. When Ginny raised her eyebrows, he said, "They ran a book."

"They ran a _book_?" Ginny repeated. She looked to his right, and saw Harry looking at her with a thoughtful expression. Goosebumps broke out on her arm and she quickly looked to her _boyfriend_. He was smiling at her. It didn't have the same effect but she returned it and then looked back at Ron. "You know, for a while I sorta thought you could have been sorted into Slytherin."

"You're just saying that because you're angry about Fred and George and the book." Ron said.

"No I really think so," Ginny insisted.

"I think all of the Weasleys could have been Slytherins." Luna said with a small smile. Ginny saw as Malfoy made a horrible face at such a thought, and Ron didn't look much better.

"Well let's see." Lisa Turpin said suddenly. "We can actually analyze these books and see just how Slytherin they are! I'll make a list of every time a Weasley has done something that would be considered Slytherin and we can really see how Slytherin they are."

"Actually," Blaise began and then he looked over at Malfoy silently fuming and let out an exasperated sigh. " _Finite_."

"-if a _Weasel_ ever set foot in Slytherin!" Malfoy shouted his voice suddenly back. He frowned. "Took you long enough."

"I liked the quiet." Zabini said simply. Ginny stopped herself from laughing, she would not laugh at a Slytherin's joke. "I'll do the list."

"Why?" Malfoy demanded.

"I feel like it'd be best if it were done by a Slytherin." Blaise shrugged. "And I'm interested myself."

Malfoy looked like his head was about to explode, and then he finally said, "Well fine. But I'll do my own list. Of every time the Weasleys were too Gryffindor for their own good. And I promise, my list will be much larger than yours."

"Perhaps," Blaise shrugged again.

"That would be even better," Lisa Turpin grinned. "We can compare them."

Ron suddenly raised his hand. "Do I get a say in this?"

"I don't know, Ron." Ginny said thoughtfully. "I'm sort of interested as well. You're not afraid your Slytherin list will be longer than your Gryffindor list, are you?"

"No." Ron said slouching looking quite unhappy. "So then it's settled." Blaise said.

"Well we'd better get back and finish reading." Ginny said quickly. As Ginny went back up to the seventh floor corridor with her friends, she realized none of them asked why they'd shown up in the first place. They did the pacing ritual, and they were met with a room that was exactly how they'd left it.

"I'm not going to say that wasn't interesting," Colin began, getting comfortable again and letting the book fall open in his lap. "But we'd probably be finished if you didn't keep running off."

"That was the last time, swear it." Ginny promised. And she meant it, she would calm down. Other than that, not much more happened in the chapter. The most significant thing to happen in this chapter was his scar burning when he saw professor Snape, which they now knew was because of Quirrell, and Harry's strange and slightly prophetic dream in which Quirrell's turban was talking to him.

"That was creepy." Colin said closing the book and stretching. "I've never had a dream like that."

"May I ask what the portrait lady's name is?" Luna asked.

"The Fat Lady." Ginny and Colin answered. Luna frowned.

"What's her real name?" she asked.

The two Gryffindors looked at each other. "I only know her as The Fat Lady." Colin said.

"Well, perhaps you should learn her name." Luna suggested. "I bet she'd like that a lot better than The Fat Lady."

"We'll keep that in mind." Ginny said. "I know we're supposed to discuss the chapter, but the thing we'd talk about the most, we already talked about."

"We can talk about how odd Dumbledore is." Colin said grinning.

"Yes, he is an odd man, isn't he?" Ginny grinned as well. "He's great though. Fred and George _love_ him, they respect anyone who can indulge in a good laugh. And I think he loves them too. Chaotic they may be, they brighten everyone's day and I think he appreciates that."

"He's certainly has unorthodoxed methods." Luna said.

"Yeah, like his speech to the class." Colin snorted.

"Speech? Oh, do you mean the one about not visiting the third floor corridor?" Luna asked. "Yes, that was certainly strange."

"No I mean- what was strange about him telling not to visit the third floor corridor?" Colin asked.

"Well, I just feel like if he really didn't want anyone going to the third-floor corridor, he wouldn't tell anyone it's out of bounds, but instead put a few spells around it to repel students. After all, curious students must have wondered what was in there and they're likely to go looking."

"Interesting." Ginny agreed.

"But if that's not the speech you were talking about, what was?" Luna asked.

"I meant before they ate." Colin said. "Nitwit, Oddment, and all of that. Strange man, Dumbledore is."

"Really?" Luna asked. "I thought it was a great thing to say!"

"Did you?" Ginny asked. Luna nodded.

"Don't you see?" she asked. "I wish he said the same after our sorting."

Colin was looking quite confused, his eyes going cross eyed for a second. "Er, explain it for us?"

"Oh, well he's saying no matter what house we're in, we are all the same!" Luna smiled. Ginny was no less confused. How did she get _that_ from what Dumbledore said. "See, the first word, nitwit, is what clued me in originally. Nitwit is a word that's used often in the Ravenclaw common room. Professor Dumbledore was saying what many Ravenclaws think of the other houses."

"They think we're all nitwits?" Ginny asked frowning.

"Not all of them, but... well yes a bit." Luna said. "But Gryffindor isn't much better, is it? That's where Blubber comes in. Gryffindors believe that they are the strongest and bravest, while the rest are blubber."

"That's... not true..." Colin said looking unsure. Ginny actually thought Luna had a point. Gryffindors did tend to be that way, she was guilty of thinking like that herself.

"And Oddment, well that one was directed at the Slytherins, who believe anything that isn't up to their standards should be discarded. And finally, Tweak, because many of the Hufflepuffs believe all of the other houses could change themselves even just a little to better themselves."

"Oh...kay..." Ginny said thoughtfully.

"So he's highlighting a way in which we're all the same. All of the houses!" Luna said grinning still. "And embracing the insults that come from the other houses. And also saying that the school wouldn't be Hogwarts without one of the houses."

"Well why couldn't he just say that?" Colin asked, his head in his hands like his head was hurting. "'Welcome back, don't think one house is better than the other because we're all the same at the end of the day'?"

"Well, the ridiculous way in which he said it is exposing the ridiculousness of the insulting phrases in the first place." Luna said. "And what better time to make such a speech than right after the sorting? It's brilliant!"

Ginny let her head fall into her hands. "Right, okay."

"But the sorting itself was quite fun, wasn't it?" Luna asked.

"Yeah it was." Colin said. "Although something confused me. How is it Ron thought you had to fight a troll to be sorted?"

"Fred told him," Ginny said lifting her head again. "Fred and George tell just enough truth that it's difficult to tell when they're lying. I've always been able to tell though."

"No, I mean, how come Ron doesn't know how we're sorted?" Colin asked. "With how many brothers went before him?"

"I'm not sure if it's a _Hogwarts_ tradition or a _Weasley_ tradition, but none of us know before we get there. I bothered Ron about it non-stop but he wouldn't tell me. Percy did the same to the twins, Fred and George did it to Ron ... you get it." Ginny rolled her eyes. "He should have known they wouldn't fight a troll, though."

"Didn't they fight a troll?" Colin asked. "In their first year? That's what I heard, anyway."

Ginny blinked, her mouth falling open. "Yeah, I believe they did. Fred must do really well in Divination."

"Maybe it's foreshadowing the fight with the troll." Luna smiled. Ginny snorted.

"Yeah, maybe."

"Do you ever wonder if maybe they might sort too soon." Colin said. "I mean we're eleven, people can change."

"I like to think we are sorted based off of, not who we are at the time, but what we need and who we need to be around to be the best versions of ourselves." Luna said.

Ginny smiled. "I like that. A lot." She wondered what Harry would say to something like that. She still had goosebumps from when Harry had put so much focus on her. What was he thinking? Was he picturing her as a Slytherin? Seeing her differently? Maybe he thought the hat made a mistake and she should have gone to Slytherin after all. Perhaps he thought it made a mistake with him as well. Perhaps he was imagining a world where they were both in Slytherin, sneered at by their housemates, trying to find a true place in the school, having only each other to turn to-

"Ginny? Nothing to add?" Colin snapped her out of her thoughts. She was being ridiculous. She had Michael now. _But aren't you only with Michael because Hermione said the best way to get Harry to notice you was to venture out? Isn't Michael just a placeholder until Harry realizes who he should really be with?_

Shut up you!

Michael was _not_ a placeholder. Ginny genuinely liked him, she wouldn't waste time with him if she didn't. And really, did Harry even deserve her? She was positive he still saw her as Ron's little sister that got herself trapped in a chamber with a giant bloody snake and used to turn the color of Ron's sweaters at the first sign of him. She was so much more than that now.

"Er, sorry. What was that?" she answered and asked.

"Well Luna and I were just talking about what Neville said about his uncle." Colin said. "The way he was treating Neville."

"Oh." Ginny said darkly.

"I think it might be beneficial if the school looked into everyone's home life when they get here." Luna said thoughtfully. "Or, if that is too invasive, the ministry."

"I just think it's unfortunate that I'm going to have more people to hex now. Well not unfortunate, but certainly inconvenient." Ginny said.

"You know what is interesting to me?" Luna said thoughtfully. "Sad, certainly, but also interesting. Harry was treated poorly by his relatives because he was too magical. Neville was treated poorly by _his_ relatives because he wasn't magical enough. If we all accepted each other the way we are, we'd all be a lot less harmful to each other."

Colin stared at Luna, and then began smiling. "You're really something, Luna."

Luna smiled back.

"Hey," Colin said as they began to stand and stretch some more. "Didn't you notice something odd about the ghosts' conversation to the first years? I could have sworn they had the exact same conversation before our sorting."

"It was so long ago," Ginny said. "But yeah, I think you might be right."

"I got the feeling it was all rehearsed." Luna said.

"How'd you figure that?" Colin asked.

"Well, they asked us what we were all doing there." Luna said with a slight shrug. "They've been here for centuries, he should know what we were all doing there. But they were acting as if they were surprised we were there, or confused. I suspect it's a nice bit of entertainment they get at the start of each year."

"That's a good point." Ginny said.

"I guess I was too busy staring at the ghosts to truly register anything they were saying." Colin chuckled. "Glad we finally got through the chapter. Even with all of the distractions."

Ginny shrugged. "Next chapter we'll hear about their first lessons."

They gathered their things and checked to see if the halls were clear before they left the room. When they got to a busier corridor, they heard people speaking about the sorting.

Everyone was talking to each other about the house they were almost sorted into. Ginny, Luna, and Colin were behind Seamus Finnigan, he was talking to Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil. Parvati was always going to go in Gryffindor, but Lavender was almost sorted into Hufflepuff and apparently Seamus was another Gryffindor who was almost a Slytherin. Maybe the two houses shared more traits than either would like to admit.

"Would you like to read next chapter together?" Luna asked.

"I think we're reading the next chapter in class." Ginny said. "And after that I said I would read with some of my roommates, but we'll read together again before the book ends."

"Okay!" Luna smiled and started to walk to her common room. Colin and Ginny continued to the Gryffindor common room.

"I can read with you two as well, right?" Colin asked.

"Of course!" Ginny grinned. They reached The Fat Lady and she asked for the password, but before Seamus could give it, Ginny stopped him and turned to the portrait. "Wait, what's your name?"


	8. The Potions Master

First of all, I want to thank each and every one of you for your support and feedback. I'm not taking this story down without a fight! I have a special shout out for **CynthiaW**. She was the one who gave me the suggestion for how to write these chapters and I absolutely want to give her all of the credit.

So this chapter is extremely different from the other seven chapters. If I get good feedback on this chapter (and I need your feedback), another chapter won't come for a while because I'll have to rewrite the other chapters first and that will take a while. Anyway, tell me how you like this chapter!

 _Disclaimer, I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters and this is not a way for me to criticize the books. It's just how I believe the characters would react if they read JK Rowling's brilliant work._

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 **In this chapter: Harry has his first lessons and learns there's more to magic than he thought. His first class with Professor Snape has him wondering why the man hates him so much.**

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Chapter 8

Fred and George could be pretty intimidating. It wasn't because they were extremely tall, they weren't really. They were the shortest of the Weasley boys (not that that was saying much). They were stocky but not overly big in terms of muscle. They could be intimidating because of their reputation. They were so unexpected, if they set their sights on someone, it could mean trouble. Of course, they didn't mess with Harry much, so he had little reason to be intimidated by them. Ron, however, wasn't so lucky.

"Why are they staring at us like that?" he said squirming in the seat adjacent to Harry's while they were in the crowded Gryffindor common room that Sunday.

Hermione looked up from the homework Harry should also be doing to peek at Fred and George. "It doesn't look like they're staring at us, just you."

"Oh great," Ron spat out. Fred and George stood and began to walk towards them. "Bugger."

"Hey there," Fred said simply when they got close enough to be heard. "Here you are Harry!"

They gave him a rolled up parchment. Harry took it slowly, eyeing them. Just because they didn't _usually_ mess with him didn't mean he would let his guard down. "What's this?"

"Harry, why are you acting like the last time we gave you a bit of parchment it wasn't the best thing you've ever received?" George asked, not answering Harry's question.

"Actually I'd say the second best." Ron said, now more relaxed knowing he wasn't targeted.

"Yeah?" Fred asked.

"Then what's the best?" George continued.

Ron smiled mysteriously. "You'll find out. When you read about it."

George turned back to Harry while Fred continued to look at Ron, almost as if staring at him would give him the answer. "It's from Dumbledore. He said to read it alone."

Harry stared from the twins to the parchment in his hand, wondering if there was some sort of joke. Dumbledore has spent the better part of the year ignoring Harry, something that always managed to irk him when he thought about it.

"Oh go on." Fred pushed. "It's no joke, it's really from him."

Harry hesitated only a moment longer before getting up from his seat and going to his dormitory, which he knew was empty because he could see all of his roommates downstairs. As soon as Harry left, Fred and George went on either side of Hermione. She had looked away from her work for a moment when Fred and George mentioned Dumbledore, but was now trying to focus again.

"What'cha workin' on?" they asked at the same time. Looking obviously annoyed, Hermione slowly looked at them.

"What do you want?"

Fred looked at George, who shrugged. In response, he shrugged back and they looked at Hermione again. "Say George,"

"Yeah Fred?"

"Did you ever hear about the joke where-"

Hermione let out a loud groan. "It's difficult enough to work in the common room without your loud speaking in my ear!"

She closed up her book, gathered her things, and stalked off. Looking proud, Fred and George then took Harry and Hermione's seats, which were on either side of Ron, and turned their attention to him. It was at that moment Ron realized, he _was_ their target after all.

"Er, I'm gonna go-"

"No you aren't." Fred said.

"We have some questions for you." George said.

Ron looked at both of them, eyes going side to side like a silent coo coo clock, and sunk into his chair. "What?"

George then went into his robes and pulled out the books Umbridge had assigned to everyone. He began flipping through the pages. "Freddie and I were reading, and we were quite surprised to find that you tend to spend a lot of your thinking time comparing yourself to your older brothers."

"Is that how you read it?" Ron said looking for an escape.

"Hear that, George?" Fred said. "'Is that how you read it'."

"That's how you said it," George said, finally getting to where he wanted to be. "Says here, according to you, everyone expects you to be like the rest of us but you'll never live up to those expectations. How should we read that?"

Ron grimaced.

"Hey George, can I see that for a moment?" Fred said almost conversationally.

"Sure, Fred!" George said giving him the book. Fred glanced at it, closed it, and hit Ron on the back of the head with it.

"OW!"

"Don't be an idiot, Ron." Fred said.

"You spend all your time trying to be us, you're not going to find out how great you can be." George said in a surprisingly serious voice. And he seemed to notice as well because he continued by saying, "I don't blame you for trying to follow in our footsteps, since we're brilliant."

"But," Fred interjected. "You can be brilliant when you want to be. Honestly, we're rubbish at chess."

Ron rolled his eyes.

Fred and George looked at each other and then back to their youngest brother. Their _only_ younger brother. "You know pride is a Weasley trait."

"That along with stubbornness." George added.

"It's a non physical trait we all share."

"So instead of comparing everything you haven't done to everyone else,"

"Just be overly prideful of what you _have_ done."

"It works for us!" they finished together. Ron looked at both of them and gave them each a small smile.

"Alright, I'll try it." Ron said. He told himself it was to get them off his back, but truthfully he was taking their advice to heart.

"There's a champ." Fred said ruffling Ron's hair. Ron tried to bat him away as Harry came back downstairs.

"It'll come naturally," George said getting up. "It's a Weasley trait after all."

"What is?" Harry asked.

"Jaw dropping good looks." Fred answered without hesitation. "We were just telling Ron they'll come naturally for him eventually."

"I'm still taller than you both!" Ron shot back.

"Right you are!" George grinned.

"Take pride in that!" Fred winked as they began to walk away.

Harry took his seat back, the unrolled note in his hand. "So what was that about?" Ron asked glancing at the parchment.

"Dumbledore asked me to meet him in his office, even has his password on here." Harry answered looking at the note again.

"Brave man, Dumbledore. Giving Fred and George parchment with his password on it." Ron said.

Harry murmured his agreement as he reread the short note. "I don't know why he asked me to read it alone when he wrote I could bring you and Hermione."

Ron knew the twins just said that to get him alone, but if he told Harry, his friend might wonder why they would want to do it. Ron didn't exactly want to talk about his conversation with his brothers. Instead he said, "Dumbledore said we could come?"

"Encouraged it." Harry said. "I just can't figure out what time. Is that an eight or a nine?"

Ron squinted at the slightly smudged digit on the page. "Looks like an eight to me."

Harry stared at it for a bit, and then said "Alright then, eight." Harry folded the parchment and stuck it in his robes. Hours later, fifteen minutes until eight that evening, Harry was walking to his headmaster's office with Ron and Hermione. Thinking about how last time he was in his headmaster's office and the reason behind it almost gave him anxiety. Of course this wasn't anywhere close to the last situation, when he had a dream of Mr. Weasley being attacked by the snake.

"Jelly Slugs." he told the gargoyle, and was granted access. However, when he opened the door, he was surprised someone was already in the office with Dumbledore.

"Oh, er-" he looked from Dumbledore to the man Harry had never seen before.

"Good evening." Dumbledore said pleasantly. "I must admit I was not expecting you for another hour."

Harry scrambled to get the note. "You didn't want to meet at eight?"

"Nine." Dumbledore corrected. Harry looked at the parchment, which now looked _obviously_ like a nine now that he was staring at it.

"I _told_ you it was a nine!" Hermione whispered into Harry's ear, glancing nervously at the old man sitting across from Dumbledore.

"The blame belongs to me, Miss Granger." Dumbledore said standing. Harry was busy staring at Dumbledore's guest, who smiled at them politely. He looked like he could be as old as Dumbledore, if not older. While Dumbledore's hair and beard were long and silver like the ghosts that roamed the hall, this man's hair and beard were kept much shorter, and white like the freshest snow. He was short, perhaps even shorter than Harry (he couldn't tell as the man was sitting), and wore deep blue, almost black robes. Dumbledore's eyes were an always twinkling blue, but this man's were a light brown, and examined him and his friends in a not unkindly matter.

"You see when I was young," Dumbledore was still saying. "I would write my nines with the stem curved at the bottom, but people often confused my nines with eights when the ink would smudge slightly. I've since then corrected this, but every once and awhile I find myself to have fallen back into my old habit."

"Er, we could come back." Ron said uncertainly.

"No need," the guest said speaking for the first time. A loud, deep, commanding voice that effectively gathered everyone's attention. "I was just on my way out."

"We'll begin our meeting then." Dumbledore said. "Mr. Weasley, if you could go fetch Professor Snape? He's to be here as well."

Harry attempted to hide his disappointment at the news that Snape would be here as well. Ron didn't do as well as he let out a low groan.

"Why do _I_ have to go get him?" He muttered annoyed, but not low enough.

"Well, you can take Miss Granger with you." Hermione sent him an annoyed look and he and Hermione left the office. Harry stood awkwardly as Dumbledore and the man said their last goodbyes. Suddenly, Dumbledore said.

"Where are my manners? Nick, this is Harry Potter." Dumbledore began.

"Yes, I guessed as much." the man, Nick, said. "I could see his scar from behind his fringe."

Harry flattened his hair down.

"Yes, and this is Nicolas Flamel." Dumbledore said. Harry couldn't help it, his mouth fell open. He quickly closed it though.

"Nice to meet you, sir." he said a bit shakingly.

"You as well." Nicolas Flamel said. "I never was able to say thank you for protecting the stone."

"Er- it was- it was nothing." Harry said awkwardly. "I had loads of help. I wouldn't have gotten half as far without my friends who were just here."

"I'll be sure to thank them as well," said Nicolas Flamel.

It was quiet for a moment, Dumbledore was busying himself with papers on his desk and Nicolas flamel was gathering himself. Then Dumbledore, still messing around at his desk, asked Harry, "How are your private lessons with Professor Snape going?"

"Great." Harry said sarcastically before he could stop himself.

"I see," Dumbledore said.

Nicolas Flamel examined Harry and asked, "What lessons?"

Harry, feeling a bit uncomfortable under the man's gaze, looked to Dumbledore. He wasn't sure if he should share this information. Although Dumbledore was the one to bring it up. Dumbledore gave a slight nod and Harry answered, "I'm learning Occlumency."

"Ahh, very nice." Flamel approved. "But it's not going well?"

Harry shook his head. "Snape-"

" _Professor_ Snape," Dumbledore interrupted.

Harry frowned. "Yes, he and I don't seem to agree on his teaching methods."

Nicolas Flamel continued to watch Harry. Finally he said, "I could teach you."

Harry's jaw dropped again. Dumbledore smiled, not looking away from his papers. "You're offering to teach me?"

"I am," Flamel told him. Harry looked at Dumbledore, and then back to Nicolas Flamel. "I'm quite impressed with all that you've accomplished. I see you going very far, I'd love to help you with that."

"Er- Thank you sir." Harry stumbled over his words. "Thank you, I'd like that a lot."

"Wonderful. Sundays around this time work for me, do they work for you as well?" Flamel asked him. Harry nodded. "Well then, I'll be back in a week at eight. We can meet here, as I'll be traveling through floo, but I should expect we find a classroom to work in. This castle has many."

Not a moment later, his friends returned with Snape, and Ron looked quite irritated. He whispered to Harry, "He took away five points just on the way here!"

"Ah, Severus!" Dumbledore said in a pleasant voice. Too pleasant, in Harry's opinion, as no one should greet Snape as such. "We've just decided that Mr. Potter should continue his Occlumency lessons with Mr. Flamel, here."

While Ron sputtered staring at Flamel and Hermione gasped and said ' _I thought I recognized him!'_ , Snape said in a dry tone, "What a shame."

"Well, I best be off." Flamel said. He approached the trio as Snape slipped further into the office. "Thank you for your efforts to protect the Stone, I was very impressed with all of you."

Harry's friends stuttered just as much as he did but both managed to get out a thank you. Flamel nodded, bowed his head to Dumbledore, and walked to the fireplace. Harry thought again about the night he saw Mr. Weasley get hurt, and how Dumbledore said using floo powder wasn't safe anymore as the network was being monitored. He thought, as the flames went green and Flamel disappeared in them, that maybe Flamel didn't care much about who watched him come and go.

"Nicolas Flamel is going to be teaching you?" Ron asked, in awe.

"He offered to." Dumbledore said, sounding like... was he proud? "You should take great honor. As you know, Nicolas decided long ago to destroy the Stone. His wife, Perenelle, recently passed and he knows he has not much longer. Originally he came here to say goodbye, as he planned to spend the rest of his life alone, relaxing in his home. Apparently, upon meeting you, he has changed his mind."

Harry was startled. "He shouldn't do that- for me-"

"Nicolas does not do anything he doesn't want to do." Dumbledore insisted. "You see, Nick is quite like another old friend of mine, Horace, in the way that both like to have had their hands in whatever is successful. Apparently, Nick could not pass you up, Harry."

"Riveting conversation that this is," Snape interrupted. "Can we get to the reason we're all here?"

"Yes of course." Dumbledore said, and then held up the book. The book of Harry's life.

Harry's heart jumped. "You can stop the school from reading them?"

"Alas, I cannot. Though I have put in my greatest efforts." Dumbledore said gravely. "But I have been speaking with Severus, and we've come up with a plan to keep certain secrets revealed by these books just that. We will arrange that they will not leave this school."

Feeling immensely deflated, Harry answered with a, "Who Cares?"

"Are you unaware that certain things in these books could get someone, many people, in serious trouble?" Snape sneered. "Including your precious Hagrid? Already he's afraid his problematic actions towards your family could get him arrested."

"It can't, can it?" Ron asked. "He hardly did anything!"

"Be that as it may, it was still illegal." Snape said.

"He won't get into trouble for this, will he?" Harry asked Dumbledore, who still seemed to be avoiding his eyes. He attempted to stow away his irritation at that.

"So far we've heard nothing about it. But if we do, I will do all I can to insure he is okay." Dumbledore answered.

"But what about Sirius?" Hermione asked. "We _want_ to be able to talk about him being innocent!"

"Which is why we are here to discuss what is in the cone of secrecy and what isn't. Severus and I have already discussed in private things that we'd rather not get out. Seeing that you three are the center of these books, we thought you'd like to have a say as well." Dumbledore said.

And so they spent several minutes discussing what is and isn't to be kept held in. It turned out Harry didn't have many things he wanted to stay hidden other than just private stuff like his life with the Dursleys and him and Cho. Most people knew everything about him whether he liked it or not, and as for the really important secrets, Snape and Dumbledore were making sure they were covered.

Harry wished Snape wasn't there. The looks on Hermione and Ron said they agreed. He wanted to bring up the DA, he wanted to insure that all of the members wouldn't get their parents in trouble if they worked in the ministry or something of the like. But he didn't want to bring the DA up around Snape. Harry remembered that he ensured his friend's secrecy when they started this, and decided at the last moment to say something.

"I want to protect the members of D-"

"Harry NO!" Hermione yelled, her hand suddenly over his mouth muffling his voice. He gave her an incredulous look. "Er- can we talk in private?"

"Certainly." Dumbledore said. Hermione pulled him to the corner of the office and Ron followed, giving Harry a look that said he didn't think he should say anything but he was also not sure why Hermione reacted so strongly.

"You can't tell them." Hermione said letting go of Harry.

"Why?"

"Because the parchment we all signed is jinxed, remember, I told you!" she hissed. "And if you tell them, specifically _Snape_ , it will trigger the jinx!"

Harry huffed. "Well what are we supposed to do?"

Ron was looking back and forth between his two friends. "How bad could it be if we don't put the DA in the- er- cone of secrecy?"

" _Think_ about it Ron. How much trouble they could be in? What if their parents get sacked for this?" Hermione was biting her lip. "Let me do the speaking for this one, I know the loopholes."

Ron and Harry nodded as they walked back to Dumbledore and Snape. Hermione began. "Er, I would like to protect _all_ students... from... er... their possible breaking of _any_ of Professor Umbridge's decrees. It should be considered a secret, and all punishment for so should be dealt with in the school."

"Well said," Dumbledore said. "Is that all?"

The trio looked at each other, and shrugged, but suddenly Ron went wide eyed. "Speaking of punishment, well this isn't exactly a secret but a request? Erm, I would like it if none of us get in trouble for what rules we may have broken in the past. We'll get enough trouble with Umbridge I suspect. I just mean, it wouldn't be fair if we got a detention for things we did in the past."

Snape looked just about ready to veto this, but Dumbledore held up a hand. "Certainly."

"Sir," Snape began. But Dumbledore looked a little stern.

"Where would we be if we punished people for their past actions simply because they were brought up again?" Dumbledore asked.

He and Snape held a gaze for a bit, before Snape bit out, "Excellent point, sir."

"Then it is settled, I cannot control Delores, of course, but I will spread word to the rest of the staff." Dumbledore said.

"May I ask how you plan on keeping things secret?" Hermione asked.

"Yes you may, we have a number of options but the top one right now is the Fidelius Charm." Dumbledore said and Harry winced. "Yes, a sore subject for you I'm sure. That being said, it's quite a good charm, very strong, as long as you are sure that the secret keeper is trustworthy."

"Well... what are your other options?" Ron asked glancing at Harry.

"An intricate combination of different charms and wards that Severus and I could put together." Dumbledore said.

"Er..." Hermione looked uncertain. "Why don't you... you could just... charm a piece of parchment."

The older ones in the room looked over to the girl. "I beg your pardon?" Severus said.

"You could charm some parchment, have it so anyone who writes their name on it will be jinxed in some way. And you'll know who says anything." Hermione said. "Professor Snape can have them write on it at the start of all of your classes, by the end of the week most of the school will have signed. The Slytherins won't question it much since it's Snape and they trust and like him. Dumbledore could have everyone on staff sign. And for those who don't have N.E.W.T. level potions in sixth and seventh year, you can give it to the other professors. At that point, no one will hesitate to sign it because they'll see that most of the school signed it already, which is basic psychology. I read a book on why it's human nature to follow other-"

"That's enough." Snape interrupted. "Such a spell does not exist."

"Oh, er, that's because I made it." Hermione admitted. "Combined a few other spells and jinxes I knew. It- It wasn't very difficult."

Dumbledore was admiring her, but Snape continued in a cold voice, "What did you use it for?"

Hermione's lips tightened and the three students looked at each other. Dumbledore smiled slightly. "They cannot say, they've signed the paper. We wouldn't want any of them to set off the jinx. Nevertheless, I think it's an impressive plan. Although I hope you don't mind I tweak it a bit? I'm sure you can imagine, being that I am the headmaster, it would be unprofessional to jinx my students."

"Perhaps they simply _can't_ say anything, or write anything for that matter." Snape murmured. "Yes, we will work on such a parchment and have it ready by tomorrow."

"Very well, and Miss Granger?" Dumbledore said.

"Yes, sir?"

"I suggest you tell those of which who signed your paper what exactly could happen if they tell," he said. "Not exactly fair that you three know and they don't, is it?"

"Right." she said in a small voice. The trio left after that, Snape was in deep thought.

"How are we to get Umbridge to sign?" he asked, thinking out loud. "We might have to have a separate paper for her."

"You can be quite crafty when the time comes, I'm sure you'll think of something." Dumbledore said. "Meanwhile, it's nearly nine already, we should get going."

Snape sneered. "Oh yes, how could I forget. We've got to come together to read about Potter's life."

Dumbledore said nothing, simply smiling and leading the way to the staffroom. They were the last to arrive, Hagrid was already sitting in an enlarged chair, Flitwick and McGonagall were speaking and Sprout was finishing chapter seven.

"Wonderful, everyone's here. Shall we begin?" Dumbledore asked taking his seat.

* * *

Dumbledore finished the chapter and closed the book, setting it to the side. McGonagall had been writing furiously the entire time, and now directed her fury fully towards Severus Snape. But she was not the only one, as Hagrid, looked quite angry as well. Flitwick did not look impressed and the book accomplished to once again make Sprout angrier than she was usually seen.

"Anything to say?" Dumbledore asked.

"I think," Flitwick began. "We have been given a surprising gift."

All attention went to the Ravenclaw head of house. "And what's that?" Dumbledore asked.

"We can take these books, and see from the students' perspective." Flitwick continued. "For instance, why is it we do not give new students maps so that they are able to find their classes in their first week?"

"Don't you think that if we gave them maps, they'd never learn how to go through the school without them?" Dumbledore answered. "It's a part of growing up, being able to navigate. And while we teach magic, don't you think, by having them away from their guardians and in a sense looking after themselves, Hogwarts also teaches them independence?"

"Why aren't we discussing the most important information to come out of this chapter?" McGonagall snapped. "Severus your behavior in this chapter, Potter's first day, was deplorable!"

"Yes, I knew you would feel that way." Snape said condescendingly. McGonagall sputtered.

"Feel- That I would feel-" she tried to get out. "This is not about a feeling! It was wrong, there was nothing to it!"

"And I suppose you're much better?" Snape countered. "By not only _allowing_ Granger to show off, but _encouraging_ it?"

"What are you speaking of?" McGonagall snapped. Snape took out his own book and went to the page he bookmarked, reading of how McGonagall showed the class Hermione's match, which she had successfully changed to a needle.

McGonagall was on her feet "I was _encouraging_ her, yes, but not to show off. But to take pride in her accomplishments! What do you call singling Potter out and degrading him in front of the entire class for not knowing questions you shouldn't be asking for _years?_ "

"You can find all of those answers easily, all you have to do is open a book." Snape said.

"Yer no teacher, yeh nothin' but a bully!" Hagrid shouted, finally coming into the conversation.

"Yes, why don't _you_ give me instructions on how to be a better teacher." Snape sneered.

"Yeh insulted the students, yeh called 'em dunderheads before they even did anythin'!"

"Don't you know, your teaching abilities are not determined by your best student, but by your worse?" Flitwick jumped in. "You do not _yell_ at students when they make a mistake, you instruct them so that they can _learn_."

"And you certainly do not call them idiots." Sprout said, red in the face. "None of your students should be walking out of their classrooms wondering why their teacher hates them. And docking points for no reason."

"No reason?" Snape repeated, leaning up in his seat but not giving the satisfaction of making him stand like McGonagall, and now Flitwick had done. "No- He talked back to me, disrespected a teacher-"

"I don't bloody blame him!" McGonagall stomped towards him. Now she that she was looking down at him, Snape _did_ stand. He was now her colleague, equal, and should be talked to as such. "Student may he be, he should never have to sit down while you insult his intelligence. Just the thought, what James would..."

But she stopped herself from continuing that sentence. It wouldn't make anything better, if anything, James was the start of all of this. Snape looked about ready to explode at the name that she let slip out. And since it was out there in the air, she might as well just say it.

"He is not just James' son. He is your student."

"Contrary to your belief," Snape began. "How I interacted with Potter has nothing to do with his father."

Hagrid let out a loud scoff.

"Unlike you all, I would never allow him to get away with believing his fame could get him out of anything in my class. And the first class is the class to set those expectations."

"Tha's a load o'-"

McGonagall cut Hagrid off. "You will notice he got the same impression from me. You should be stern, but not unfair."

"Cruel, you mean." Sprout said. "You should be ashamed of yourself."

"Yeh SHOULD be fired!" Hagrid called. Dumbledore, who allowed this to go on for as long as it did because he wanted them to get this out now rather than have it explode in a less professional way, stepped in at this point. He no longer wanted to just watch as Snape was ganged up on like this.

"That's quite enough," he said.

McGonagall was still heated, and she was not giving this up without a fight. "Albus, you cannot seriously be tolerating this behavior!"

"I will be having a talk with Severus but must leave it to _me_." Albus said sternly.

"Albus," McGonagall hissed. "This man is handling first years, _eleven_ year olds. I should have known when it went around that he was Longbottom's _worse fear_ but I didn't take it seriously. That was my mistake, but we need to stop turning a blind eye to what is happening in our school!"

"What are you suggesting?" Dumbledore asked quietly. McGonagall frowned in thought. She wasn't sure, she was just so angry at Dumbledore's nonchalance, this sort of behavior should not be allowed.

"Maybe he _should_ be fired!" she finally said. She turned to Snape, who looked at them with indifference. "Change his behavior, or leave!"

"I cannot do that." Dumbledore said. "Where am I supposed to get a new potions professor at this point in the school year? Unless you suggest the ministry should find someone for that position as well? No, that cannot be."

McGonagall's anger was beginning to shift towards Dumbledore. "Albus-"

"If you wish to discuss this further, we may." Dumbledore said. "In the meantime, anything else from the chapter you would like to discuss?"

McGonagall glanced towards Snape, who looked smug. Clenching her fists, she returned to her seat. She was outraged. What James would say, what _Lily_ would say! And Sirius and Remus! She was outnumbered. Dumbledore and Snape against her. Yes of course she had the other professors on her side as well, but they didn't hold nearly enough merit.

And suddenly, an idea came to mind. She shouldn't... but she also couldn't sit and be dismissed with something so important. She looked around. While the other teachers, excluding Snape, still looked angry, none of them looked like they were going to speak up farther against Dumbledore. And she couldn't blame them, there wasn't much they could do. They were discussing Filch, how they should say something about his behavior towards the students. Dumbledore assured Hagrid he would get Filch to stop having Mrs. Norris follow him around whenever he was in the castle.

McGonagall stood up, book in hand. "I will be going. I have some essays to grade." she began to walk out without a goodbye. When she got to the door, she turned her head and said, "I'll be taking a walk through Hogsmeade first, however, if I am needed."

And she closed the door behind her. She sped up to her office, moving faster than she had in years. Before Dumbledore or Umbridge stopped her. Before she stopped herself and changed her mind. When she got to her office, she was still in a rush. Grabbing her cloak while also holding her wand and then pulling the other six books out. She got to work, duplicating all seven books twice, shrinking them, and then slipping them inside of her cloak.

It took her no time to be outside the Hogwarts walls, she was still moving fast. The cold air was like another obstacle. They were just starting the second week of March and it wasn't warming up much at all. When she got outside of the wards, she turned on the spot and a second later, she was at her destination.

Number twelve Grimmauld Place, the Order headquarters.

* * *

Okay, so I'm going to attempt to shout everyone out. Please _please_ tell me if I missed you! And also tell me if I should keep writing the story in this style!

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	9. The Midnight Duel

_As you should know, I don't like long Authors Notes, so I'll make this as quick as possible. First of all, sorry this is so late, life got a little busy. Now, as you should all know we're getting more readers. After this chapter, there will be NO MORE additions. It's too difficult at this point. We're not far into the book right now so it's easy to have the new readers play catch up but after this it would just be too much. Anyway, I'm so glad to finally have this up and to get to this chapter. Enjoy!_

 _Disclaimer, I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters and this is not a way for me to criticize the books. It's just how I believe the characters would react if they read JK Rowling's brilliant work._

* * *

 **In this chapter: The Gryffindor first years finally get to fly in their flying lesson with the Slytherins, and Harry discovers he's actually really good at it! McGonagall must think so too, because she added him to the Gryffindor team! Things go downhill when Malfoy challenges Harry to a wizard's duel. Hermione tries to talk him and Ron out of it, but ends up joining them just to see Malfoy had set them up. To get away from Filch, they go through a locked door to see a Three Headed Dog!**

* * *

Chapter 9

"Minerva, what are you doing here?" Remus asked as she walked past him into the sitting room.

"Where's Sirius?" she asked looking around.

"Why are you here?" Remus asked. "Tell _me_ first, Sirius might want to run off and... and..."

McGonagall huffed impatiently as she pulled out the books which were shrunken. "I do not have much time, I have to get back before they know I'm missing. Although I get the feeling Albus knew what I was doing when I left. Now, where-"

"McGonagall?" came Sirius' voice. Both Remus and McGonagall turned to see the man in the doorway. "What are you doing here? Is something wrong? Is Harry okay?"

"He's fine." she said as she began to resize the books. She picked up the identical copies of the smallest book and held them out for them to take. Neither of them moved. "Did you not hear me when I said I do not have all day!"

Still a bit slow, they each took the book she was holding out. "What's this about?" Remus asked as he opened the first page.

"Dolores Umbridge's idea." McGonagall said with a nasty tone to her voice. "I do not know where she found them, none of us have been able to figure it out. They're about Potter."

If their faces were any indication, they didn't understand.

"Somehow, Harry's life was documented and put into these books. No I don't know who did it, and I do not know how. And I certainly don't know how _she_ got her hands on them. But she's had the entire school reading them, even the ghosts are talking about them. Of course they can't read it, I think they may be listening in on people's discussion groups, another idea of _hers_."

McGonagall began pacing. Remus was flipping through the pages and Sirius watched her, holding the book almost like it was something dirty.

"There's seven of them, as you can see. In my free time, I've been trying to figure the pattern of how the books are split. I'm beginning to believe it's by Potter's year, one book for each of his Hogwarts years. Seven years, seven books."

"But he's only in year five." Sirius pointed out.

"Yes, that's what I said. It makes one wonder about the finale two. I thought about getting a look, just seeing what was in them but," she stopped pacing and stared at the other books. "We're unable to read the other six books."

"Why not?" Remus asked.

"They're spelled shut." McGonagall said. "Umbridge's way of stopping everyone from reading ahead, and I bet she gets some sort of satisfaction in having that same hold over the teachers as well, especially Albus."

"You can't break it?" Remus asked.

"I think I could, only I'd have to have the original." McGonagall said. "She used a duplication spell, so whatever happens to the original-"

"Happens to the other books as well." Remus finished with an understanding.

"Precisely," McGonagall said. "The good news for that is that she is stopping herself from reading ahead as well. As of this morning we were able to read up to chapter 8. I reckon tomorrow we'll be able to read chapter 9 as well."

"So..." Remus said, now closing the book and passing it from one hand to the next. "So, you're giving it to us because..."

"Because if anyone should be this involved in Potter's life, it's you two." McGonagall said fiercely. "I... I suspect James would want you to know. And I think Albus has too much power over Potter's life. I don't suggest you fight or argue with him, but perhaps you two and I together could help him see reason."

She looked Sirius in the eye.

"Don't do anything rash. There are some very upsetting things in here." she said sternly. Glancing at the clock, she began to move towards the door again. "I have to go. Read it."

She was still pumped full of adrenaline by the time she took a seat in Hogsmeade. It wasn't until the next morning that she wondered if she acted too impulsively.

 **Boy Who Lived And You-Know-Who's Wands Connected?** _(8 March 1996)_

 _By R. Almeidas_

 _We all know how important a witch or wizard's wand is. It is, by all means, an extension of our very being. A very representation of who we are as a wizards and witches. A wand is one of the most important things we have when we begin our magical journey and it can reflect who we are on the inside. Well, as it turns out, Harry Potter (Boy Who Lived) may be more connected to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named than we all thought._

 _A classmate of Mr. Potter's, who wishes to stay anonymous, has informed us that Harry Potter has a wand made of Holly and Phoenix feather. What's so important about this? Well it turns said phoenix gave one more feather. And what wand was made with said feather? He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named._

 _What does this mean? Well what do we really know about Harry Potter? What do we know about what happened that night that You-Know-Who was vanquished forever? Is it possible You-Know-Who could not kill Harry Potter because the latter was the former's equal?_

Hermione slammed the paper down. "Who told?"

"Malfoy." Ron said immediately. The trio all looked over to the Slytherin table, where everyone _was_ reading the paper but it wasn't like the other times an embarrassing article came out. Malfoy wasn't gloating, and his friends weren't laughing. None of them looked guilty, although they likely never would. Some of them looked amused and some did laugh but that was all.

"I'd like to say yeah," Harry started. "But he doesn't usually have any problem letting everyone know it's him. This person was anonymous."

"Then who?" Ron asked.

"It could be anyone." Hermione said. "Everyone's read the books, and because of the reading groups, we're all well past chapter five, where it was revealed."

"At least we know it won't happen again." Harry said. "Snape said he's getting the signatures today."

"Potter." Harry spun around to see McGonagall standing over him. And, to his great surprise, she looked guilty. "May I speak to you in private?"

"Er... yeah..." he glanced at his two friends. They looked just as stunned as him. As he followed his head of house to the staff room behind the head table, he glanced at the Slytherin table again. Malfoy looked at him for a second, and then turned away.

"It was you, wasn't it?" Pansy asked him.

"So what if it was," came Draco's mumbled answer. "You gonna run off and comfort Potter now?"

"Of course not." she spat. "And I'm sick of your attitude. It's making me want to hex you. But I'm not going to do that because you feel bad enough."

"I don't feel bad!" Draco sneered. Blaise, who was across from him, scoffed. "What?"

"'Course you feel bad. The kid's got enough problems, you didn't need to add to them but you did." Blaise said.

"I don't _like_ him." Draco said.

"There are very few people at this table that do. I certainly don't, but _I_ feel bad." Blaise said. "You don't have to like someone to pity him."

Draco looked at his two friends and scoffed. "Whatever, I'm not warming up to him. And I _don't_ feel guilty."

"Right." Pansy said. "If you don't feel guilty, how come you didn't source yourself?"

Draco never gave her an answer.

Harry returned to the table a few minutes later, "Ready for History of Magic?"

"What did McGonagall want?" Ron asked.

"I'll tell you on the way." Harry said. They began to gather their things, and were soon on their way to their first class of the day.

"So?" Ron pushed. "What'd she want?"

"To apologize." Harry said. "Apparently last night she decided to give the books to Sirius and Lupin."

"What? Why?" Hermione asked.

Harry shrugged. "She just said she did it without thinking much of it. And that she should have asked me, being that they're about me."

"How do you feel?" Hermione asked. Harry shrugged.

"It's not that bad. Umbridge is reading them. _Snape_ is reading them. It can't really get worse, can it?" Harry sighed. "But I don't want him to get super angry and... I don't know... try to-"

"Kill the Dursleys?" Ron suggested. "Hopefully Lupin could keep him from doing that."

* * *

"Remus if you don't move I will blast you so hard you'll forget where you are." Sirius said in a scarily calm voice. "Now move from the door so I can do James proud _and kill those bastards_!"

"I'm not saying that's not a bad idea, I'm just saying it's not a good idea for _you_ to do anything." Remus said. "You'd do James proud by not getting yourself chucked back in Azkaban."

Sirius said nothing for a moment. He knew Remus was right, he usually was. And his impulsive behavior got him locked in Azkaban in the first place. Now Harry was counting on him to stay out of there. He felt awful enough about not being there for his god son while Harry was stuck with those _fat load of dungs_. In some roundabout way, he felt like getting rid of the Dursleys could make up for that. But he knew the truth was the best thing he could do for Harry was be there for him.

"Fine." He stomped to his chair, kicking the book that was on the floor away from him. "Fine then. I'll just sit here and do nothing, my specialty."

Remus let out a great sigh. Truthfully, he'd love to see those Muggles get blasted apart. A cupboard? A _cupboard_? Getting Sirius to not go after the Dursleys? He considered that a miracle, especially considering he had to stop himself from rolling up his sleeves and joining him.

Both men perked up at the sound of the door opening and closing for the second time in 24 hours. "That can't be McGonagall with another set of books, right?" Sirius asked.

"Afraid not." Came the voice of one Albus Dumbledore. Sirius' face screwed up to one of pure disgust and Remus felt a hot, fierce anger inside of him as well. "Minerva informed me this morning she delivered you the books. I imagine we have some things to discuss."

"I _imagine_ we do!" Sirius said standing at once. Dumbledore did not react.

"How far have you gotten?" he asked.

Remus glanced at the book that had been kicked across the floor and at the book that was face down on the chair he'd been sitting in. "We're hardly into chapter two."

Dumbledore nodded.

"Dumbledore what the hell is Harry doing at that house?" Remus said, deciding he didn't care to beat around the bush or be polite. "Figg was there watching him, was she not? She saw how he was treated, right? So you had to know what was happening."

"Or did she not say anything?" Sirius yelled, his loud voice a stark contrast to Remus' carefully calm voice. "'Cause if that's the case, I got a few words for her too!"

"Arabella came to me a few times with concerns." Dumbledore explained. "Nothing was ever so pressing-"

"Like him living in a cupboard, you mean?" Remus interrupted.

"You can imagine the Dursleys didn't make that common knowledge." Dumbledore said. "The most Arabella knew was that he was not well liked there, and they didn't understand if anyone else felt differently."

Sirius swore loudly and looked about ready to throw something. "No one should have to live in a place where they are not liked! Don't you know what that can do to someone?"

Remus looked at Sirius, his friend who was currently trapped in his childhood home. A place he, as well, was not well liked when he was Harry's age.

Remus wanted to change the subject. "No one thought it was odd that Harry was walking around with clothes five sizes too large?"

"Did you?" Dumbledore asked.

Remus opened his mouth, then closed it. Actually he did always find it strange but he also thought that maybe Harry liked larger clothes. He never thought too hard about it. But he should have, and he suddenly felt like he failed James and Lily...

"There is absolutely no reason to place blame on yourself. You may, however, continue to blame me. I placed him there, and though I have my reasons, I do think it was wrong of me to not be more aware of his circumstance."

"Damn straight." Sirius muttered.

Dumbledore took one step forward. "Rest assured, I will be speaking to Vernon and Petunia about this."

Sirius looked up. "I want to be there."

Dumbledore shook his head and opened his mouth, but Sirius squared his shoulders and stood up straight.

"I'm going to be there."

Dumbledore and Sirius stared at each other for a long while, before Dumbledore gave a small smile. "Very well."

Sirius backed down, but said, "Glad you approve. Because I wasn't asking your permission."

"I do ask that you only talk to them." Dumbledore said. "I can't allow you to do anything more."

Sirius didn't respond and Remus wondered if he should make a case to go as well, but thought maybe this would be better for just them to go. He thought Sirius handled himself well, considering he nearly apparated to the Dursley's house and murdered them on the spot.

"I must be going." Dumbledore began walking towards the door. "But before I do, I should say this. I'm more than certain that this will not be the last time you are angry at me. I only ask that you wait until you get to the end and that you give me the benefit of the doubt."

"As long as you don't lock Harry in any cupboards." Remus said when Sirius just narrowed his eyes at him. "I think we'll be okay."

When Dumbledore got to his office, he saw the stack of letters on his desk that he had left. But there was a new one there that interested him. It was from Arabella Figg. He wondered what could be so important that she would send a letter. It couldn't be about Harry, could it? He opened it up to see rushed writing.

 _Sir,_

 _I've just been round number four and the Dursleys are all suffering from what I'm sure are hexes and jinxes. I've no way of fixing them up of course and their muggle doctors will do no good. I don't know for sure but it seems they've come from unmarked letters. I thought I'd tell you because it could be dark wizards or the like._

 _Hope you're well,  
_ _Arabella Figg._

 _Hope you're well_. He reread with a hint of amusement, but quickly put the letter down to make calls. He feared something like this would happen...

* * *

"Potter!" Harry heard and froze in his steps, swallowing a groan. "Weasley, and Granger."

All three of them turned to Snape. He looked as pleasant as always, so not at all.

"To my office, we have things to discuss." Snape said and turned on the spot without so much of a glance to check if they were following him.

They walked behind him, far enough to speak quietly. "We didn't even do anything." Ron said.

"It's probably about what we discussed last night." Hermione said.

"Well yeah but he said _things_. We have _things_ to discuss." Ron said. "I just don't trust him."

They had signed the parchment in potions class that morning. They complained just enough that the Slytherins wouldn't hesitate, as they'd pick Snape's side over theirs any day. It worked, of course, they didn't even ask any questions. As they turned into the office, Snape rounded on them and Ron took a step back.

"I'll have everyone's signature by the end of the week. I've been told to tell you that." Snape said.

"Couldn't have just given us a nod in the corridor and go on our separate ways?" Ron asked. Harry narrowed his eyes.

"What else?" he asked.

Snape sneered. "That's _sir_ to you, Potter. And I have also been informed that your relatives have received... unorthodox mail."

Harry saw his friends stiffen on either side of him. It must have been obvious to Snape too because his eyes shifted from Harry to both of them. He nodded slightly.

"Yes I thought as much." Snape muttered. Harry was still confused.

"What do you mean _unorthodox mail_?" Harry asked.

"Jinxed mail, meant to put the reader in great discomfort. Dumbledore had to contact the ministry about it, luckily those who he's talked to agree to keep it as quiet as possible." Snape said. "If it were up to me, you'd be in detention until May. Luckily for you, Dumbledore doesn't agree with me."

Harry glanced at his friends. "Is that all, then?"

"Currently." Snape said. "You may go."

Harry left without another word. Ron and Hermione were behind him and said nothing. When they got far enough away, he slowed is walk for them to catch up.

"You sent the Dursleys mail?" Harry asked.

"We can't send anything." Hermione said. "Umbridge checks our mail better than anyone else."

Harry stopped walking and his friends stopped as well and they all looked at each other. "So what then?"

Ron let out a small chuckle. "Y'know Harry, you're the only one who could bring all the houses together."

Hermione sighed. "It was Pansy Parkinson. She sent the letters. Umbridge doesn't care who she sends letters to. Ron and I... we just helped spell them..."

"With what?" Harry asked. "Who helped?"

"Oh tons!" Ron said, his excitement coming out. "Just about all the fifth year prefects, besides Malfoy. Fred and George heard about what we were doing and gave us some of their sweets to send. Ernie and I helped write a note saying the sweets were for all of Vernon's great work at the office. We used the book for reference too, so we made it sound all official and had the company name there too. And Padma and Hermione were the ones who actually put the spells in. Hermione managed to even put more than one hex in one letter. Remember the combination of your spell and George's last year on the express? She added that. Genius that was."

Hermione flushed.

"When did you even do all of this?" Harry asked.

"Last night. We were able to pretend we're just meeting as prefects to do some last minute task delegating. I think Pansy sent everything early this morning." Hermione said. "I didn't expect to ever do anything like this considering how awful it felt when it happened to me last year, but... well your aunt and uncle deserved it! I'm sorry Harry, but they can't keep going on treating you however they please!"

Harry was sorting out his feelings. He didn't really want his friends or his classmates to intervene in what happened at the Dursleys. It would just make things more miserable for him in the summer. Honestly he could handle it. But he was sort of touched that they felt the need. And the thought of the Dursleys dealing with hexes was amusing, he couldn't help but let out a small laugh.

"Alright." he said with a small smile. His friends beamed at him and looked about to say something, only they were interrupted. By a woman screaming.

"What the-" Ron jumped and all three of them took out their wands. Glancing at each other, they walked forward, towards the sound of many footsteps heading towards what might have been the entrance hall. When they got there, they saw the students had circled around something and pushed through and past many to get to the center. There in the center, was Professor Trelawney. She was standing in the middle of the entrance hall with her wand in one hand and an empty sherry bottle in the other, looking utterly mad.

* * *

It was nighttime, and Remus and Sirius hardly moved since they began reading again. Sirius joked that he was going to start taking notes of all the things he'd have to remember when he talked to the Dursleys. Although Remus wasn't always sure he was joking. Of course things got better as Harry went to the wizarding world and the closer they got to Hogwarts, the more Sirius' spirits began to rise. Until they got to the eighth chapter and read about Harry's first lesson with Snape.

"You're not going to go after him, are you?" Remus asked after Sirius finally stopped ranting.

"No, of course not." Sirius spat.

"Good." Remus said. "He'll come back here eventually, We can have at him then."

He was sick of being the responsible one and he was pissed that Snape would treat Harry this way as well. He wanted to hex that crooked teacher inside out!

"Oh I'm sure we'll both have quite a bit to say." Sirius said as he took a seat in the armchair he'd been reading in. "But we can't 'have at him'.

Stunned enough that Remus temporarily forgot his anger, he turned to Sirius. Sirius looked bitter, angry, and far more likely to teach Snape a lesson than not. But he also looked determined. "Why not?" Remus asked.

"Because." he began. "It would only make things worse for Harry."

Remus went over these words in his mind, and then slowly sat down as well. "Damn."

"I know." Sirius said. "But Dumbledore, he'll hear me. Because as long as I'm still breathing, Snape won't be back to teach next year."

Remus was more than a little frustrated with Dumbledore, but he was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt like he said he would just that morning. He was willing to hear the man out. It was the least he could do for not only allowing him to go to Hogwarts, but to work there as well. He hoped, at least, that he would be able to. Because Dumbledore said they'd be much angrier with him in the future, and Remus was admittedly already quite angry with Dumbledore. For allowing this type of classroom behavior to happen while he was in charge. And for dropping him at the Dursleys... and then not making sure he was okay.

Feeling emotionally exhausted, Remus yawned. "Want to go to bed then?"

Sirius shook his head. "We've got one more chapter we can read before the damn book is spelled to keep us from turning the page. Might as well finish it."

Remus sighed and hoped this chapter was better than the last one. "Well then you read this one, I've been reading all day and, quite frankly, my eyes hurt."

* * *

"Well that settles it then," Sirius growled out. "I blame Dumbledore for everything that happens in this year."

"Sirius," Remus said, tiredly. "We haven't read enough to place blame."

"Mind you I don't _know_ everything," Sirius said as if Remus said nothing. Truthfully he hardly knew anything about Harry's first year. But... well he'd hardly had time to ask, with everything that's gone on. But damn, he should have made time. That's his godson.

He does know that from what he's heard, Harry's in some sort of danger every year. And if what he just read has something to do with the danger he's in for his first year, Dumbledore has a lot of explaining to do.

"I mean what does Dumbledore think he's doing? Keeping a three headed beast behind a door that can be unlocked by knowing a _first year spell_." Sirius started pacing. "We all know if Dumbledore doesn't want something found, it won't be. Hell this place is an example!"

Remus was frowning. Sirius was right, of course. Anyone, not just Harry, could go wandering in there. He was convinced the twins did, probably on their first night, if they were anything like James, Sirius, and admittedly himself were when they were young. As soon as Dumbledore said it was forbidden, they'd have a look.

Sirius suddenly blasted a spell onto the nearest thing, and Remus didn't get to see what it was but glass flew and littered the ground. Remus groaned. "Sirius why would you-"

And what he knew would happen next, did. The portrait of Sirius' mother started screaming and Remus and Sirius moved to close the curtain so she could shut the hell up. When they finally managed it, he looked at Sirius and put his arms up to ask _why_.

"Dumbledore said give him a chance right?" Sirius said breathlessly. "Wait 'till the end or whatever. Well I needed to direct my anger somewhere. Why not dear old mum."

He walked back into the sitting room.

"And it's a good stress reliever." he muttered.

Remus followed him. "Wanna talk about the good in the chapter? There was a lot more good than bad. Like Harry making the quidditch team..."

Sirius' face lit up instantly, and it was so rare to see him like this these days, Remus couldn't help but smile.

"Harry, the youngest seeker in a century! Bloody hell he never told me that!" Sirius grinned and pushing away thoughts that would keep him up in the night, like how he should have known that. And he and Harry really did not talk enough. "I knew he was good, but a catch like that on his first time on a real broom? He's a natural! Well mostly, I reckon I have influence with that broom I bought him all those years ago."

Remus snorted but was grinning so hard his cheeks hurt. It was like he was looking at a twenty year younger Sirius. The Sirius that was still full of life, cockily inserting himself into any good thing that happens. "Right. The broom, that hardly goes up two feet, mind you, trained him to be the youngest seeker ever."

"Start 'em young!" Sirius was basically bouncing. "I wonder how good he is! Obviously he's quite good, but what's his average on snitch catches? We've definitely got to talk about this and I'll rip him a new one for not mentioning this before. Blimey I thought he joined in his second or third year. What's his team, I wonder? Is he interested in playing professionally? I bet my Godson could get any girl he pleases. Famous and the youngest seeker in a century!"

"Take a breath, would you?" Remus laughed. "James would have milked that for all it was worth if it were him. Speaking of James, imagine his reaction!"

"Yeah! McGonagall said he'd be proud," Sirius let out a great laugh. "Proud, sure. That's one word for it. He'd be unbearable! _Insufferable!_ He'd put it in the prophet, and would make sure it was front page for at least a week! He'd ruin Wood's whole 'keep it a secret' thing, which is fine because it's damn near impossible to keep a secret in Hogwarts. James would be telling anyone who asked- anyone who didn't ask too. Muggles would know! He'd be yelling it from rooftops!"

"You'd be right there with him too." Remus said knowingly.

"Bet your arse! And so would you!" Sirius said. "You'd make sure it were in history books, actually put that on our to do list."

Remus smirked. "It'd find a way into every conversation. _Hey, do you know what the weather's like?_ Perfect for flying! And speaking of-"

Sirius roared with laughter and Remus joined him. It was so nice to just let loose for a while. It's not often that they get to do it in the current climate of the wizarding world.

"I was going to complain about the flying teacher, what's her name? Hooch? She's new. Anyway, I don't know what the hell she's good for. Didn't do anything at all for Neville, I mean stop his momentum, cushion the fall, _something!_ That's why she's bloody there, otherwise they can just teach themselves. It was just his wrist but it could have been his neck. And then she just leaves them all there unsupervised?"

Sirius took a deep breath and then grinned.

"But she's the reason Harry got on the team, so I guess it's okay." Sirius said.

"Should still say something to Dumbledore." Remus muttered. "It was very irresponsible."

"Oh sure I'll have loads to say to Dumbledore." Sirius said and then changed the conversation in a way that told Remus he was trying to keep his good mood. "Can you believe all of this started over a remembrall? Bloody hell, I hate those useless little shits. Why did that Malfoy tosser want one so bad? Blimey I think his parents can get him one if it's that important to him."

"Don't call him a tosser, Sirius, he's a child." Remus said with a smile. Sirius shrugged, unperturbed.

"Is it impossible for a Potter to not make an arch enemy before they even get to school?" Sirius asked. "After reading what I have so far, I do think Harry's got a touch more Lily than James, but every once and awhile he sneaks in there."

Remus leaned back into his seat with a relaxed smile. "I think he was the perfect combination in this chapter. I saw Lily in him when he was defending Neville, and I saw James when he shot off after him."

"Yes, that was a very James move." Sirius said, his grin not moving. "Also like him to plan a midnight duel when he only knows about four spells in total."

"Actually, I was going to mention that I think he's found himself a Sirius in Ron." Remus chuckled.

"What? Me? You think I would have talked James up for a duel? _Never!_ " Sirius shook his head. "Malfoy though, what a little sneak! Setting them up like that!"

"Right, no honor, that one." Remus said. "And a coward at that. But I suppose it was smart... Don't give me that look!"

Sirius had given him the 'your marauder's card is about to be revoked' look.

"I still don't agree with it, of course, I'm just saying it wasn't a bad move." Remus frowned. "I'd still go."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Hermione, though, good of her to find a way to get that stick from her bum as we see she has by now."

"That's most definitely the influence of Harry and Ron." Remus said. "But I agree, she seems like a right pain in these early chapters. It's almost hard to believe she becomes friends with them."

Sirius' smile had left his face, though he still looked a lot more happy than he had in a long time. "She sort of reminded me of..."

"Snape?" Remus supplied. "Yeah I got that."

"Not a fan of those who stick their nose in other people's business. I mean, what does she care if they get into trouble? It shouldn't affect her at all unless she decides it does." Sirius said. "But I'll keep in mind that she gets much better."

"Yes, she was quite annoying." Remus muttered. "Expecting them to back her up on making sure _they_ get in trouble and she doesn't. Why the hell would they do that?"

Sirius shrugged. "Don't know. And making sure to say 'I told you so' as if they couldn't already see what happened."

Remus shook his head, amused.

"Also, remind me to ask Ron if he's managed to find a way to handle Peeves at this point." Sirius said.

"He might have," Remus said. "Could be in one of these books."

They both stared at the identical piles of books on the table. They weren't exactly happy about their existence, they could imagine how uncomfortable Harry was with them. But they were also grateful for them. They missed so much, and now they were learning about someone they both loved.

"Well, it's late." Remus stretched. "I reckon we should get to bed."

Sirius nodded. "Maybe chapter ten will be openable tomorrow."

* * *

 _So I think you guys should know where we are in OOTP. If not, it'll be more clear next chapter. Time does not stand still here, everything is still moving. I think it adds more to the story and makes it more realistic. Makes it harder for me, of course, but it's worth it._

 _Follow me on the socials they're on my profile!_


	10. Halloween

_Sorry for the wait, I was going through some things. Still am, but that's not important right now. Enjoy the chapter! Thanks as always to Bookhater95 for reading it over and making sure it doesn't suck!_

 _Disclaimer, I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters and this is not a way for me to criticize the books. It's just how I believe the characters would react if they read JK Rowling's brilliant work._

* * *

 **In this chapter: Harry starts his training for Quidditch with Oliver Wood, in Charms they begin learning the levitation charm. Hermione tries to help Ron when they get paired together, but she seems unable to do it without sounding/being condescending. This causes Ron to complain loudly, which she hears. She cries in the bathroom and when a troll attacks the school, Harry and Ron realize Hermione doesn't know and go to save her. In the end they succeed and Hermione gets them out of trouble, resulting in them all becoming friends.**

* * *

Chapter 10

Hogwarts was split in half.

No not literally, the castle itself was intact. It was the students. The events in chapter nine of the Harry Potter Books (as they were now known) had sparked quite the debate. It went like this: The majority of the Gryffindors were upset over how the duel went down, or didn't. They thought Malfoy was a coward to back out of the duel, and a sneak as well. The majority of the Slytherins, however, praised Malfoy on his cleverness and thought it just bad luck that Potter and his friends didn't get caught. So where do the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws stand? The Hufflepuffs were on the Gryffindor's side. Honor! Integrity! You say you're to duel at midnight, you duel at midnight! Even if it's stupid, your word is worth more than anything. The Ravenclaws, well they couldn't help but think it much smarter of the Slytherin to stay out of it and get his enemy out with just a quick tip to the caretaker.

It lead to many arguments and duels in the hallways, Gryffindor and Hufflepuff vs Slytherin and Ravenclaw. It was unlikely someone could go anywhere without getting hexed just for the house they were in. Which was unfortunate for some. Like those Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs who agreed with the Slytherins and Ravenclaws, and the other way around. And those who had no opinion and was just doing their hardest to stay out of the drama. But then there were those who were in their element, like the Weasley twins.

Hermione would claim loudly for anyone to hear that she was against all of this, but deep down she was enjoying it a little. And it was great practice for Defense. This was worse for the teachers. Dumbledore had not done much to get it under control, mind it had only been a day (yes just a day). Madam Pomfrey had a new hex to undo every minute.

The funniest bit of all of this? Harry, Ron, and Draco cared least of all. It was something stupid they did when they were first years that they didn't even think about anymore. They hardly sat together and had a laugh about it, but all three found the utter chaos their eleven year old idiocy caused to be rather funny. Sure, they took part, a hex here and there, but only because it was fun for them.

Yes, the day was certainly eventful. In fact, it started interesting. Dumbledore had made a speech at breakfast about the Harry Potter Books, which was the first time he addressed them to the entire school.

"As we all know, we are learning quite a bit about a student we know." Cue everyone turning to look at Harry. "And some revelations are quite upsetting. Be that as it may, it is still wrong to send jinxed mail to muggles."

Dumbledore paused for what this stirred at the tables. Some seemed to be a bit lost but most caught on quickly and a few started clapping. Harry sunk down into his seat while Ron explained to Seamus and Dean what they did.

Draco glanced at Pansy, who looked pleased with herself. "You jinxed his aunt and uncle?"

"Yup!" Pansy said popping the P on the word.

"And you didn't include me on hexing muggles, why?" Draco asked.

"Because, idiot, it wasn't about hexing muggles, that was just an added bonus. It was about getting those muggles back for child abuse. And that doesn't mean I like Harry, before you ask, it just means I hate those Dursleys."

"Why wasn't _I_ included?" Blaise asked.

"Because you are not a prefect, and keeping it between all of the prefects gave us the perfect cover if anyone caught us." Pansy said. Draco gaped at her.

"You worked with Weasley and Granger?!" he yelled. Pansy opened her mouth to answer but Dumbledore seemed he let them relish in the news for long enough.

"Quiet, quiet. While there are admittedly some admirable aspects of this feat, such as banding together to stick up for a classmate, I must ask you do not try anything like this ever again. The muggles are defenseless against magic,"

"So it was perfect then." Parvati mumbled. "Seeing as Harry was a defenseless child when they locked him in a cupboard."

"And," Dumbledore continued. "It is against not just school rules but ministry rules as well. If I hear of anything else like this, I will find who did it and they will be punished however their head of house seems fit."

Now, hours later, Parvati was waiting outside of the hospital wing, her wand out and looking around. The doors opened, Lavender stepped out grinning. "Ears are back to normal!"

Parvati shushed her. "Do you want to get hexed again?"

"There's no one else out here." Lavender said, though she took out her wand and looked around again.

"Not yet, but having your guard down is what got you in the hospital wing in the first place!" Parvati said.

"We're not at war, Vati." Lavender rolled her eyes.

"We might as well be!" Parvati said. Both girls jumped as a Slytherin boy came running around the corner, holding his face. He didn't even look at the girls but ran straight into the hospital wing. "See, another casualty."

Lavender snorted.

As they went further into the castle, however, Lavender understood what Parvati meant. It must have gotten worse since she was forced to see Madam Pomfrey, which made sense as most classes were out now. Every hallway there were duelers, or teachers scolding students who were just dueling. The younger students were walking in packs, looking down right terrified. No one's wand was away. Parvati told Lavender that the hourglasses in the entrance hall were all losing gems, everyone was getting points taken off.

"This is ridiculous!" Lavender whispered as they ducked into a classroom to avoid stray spells. "I agree that Malfoy was a prat for nearly getting Harry caught, but should it really cause this much anarchy?"

Parvati then surprised Lavender greatly by turning to her with a big grin. "This isn't about that anymore, not for me at least. It's just great fun!"

Lavender stared at her incredulously. Although she shouldn't have been surprised. Parvati was always more Gryffindor than Lavender. Lavender sometimes wondered if she was even in the correct house.

"Ready?" Parvati called. Before Lavender could say no, Parvati ran back into the hall. Not wanting to be left behind, Lavender was right on her tail. She saw a spell come her way and threw up a protection barrier, before running after the very fast Parvati. When they rounded the corner, wands were pointed at them immediately. Then, Dean and Seamus realized who they were pointing at.

"Stay on alert girls!" Dean grinned, but behind them Lavender could see a Slytherin aiming at them.

"Duck!" Lavender yelled and both boys did at once. " _Anteoculatia!_ "

The Slytherin boy held his head as antlers begun to grow from them. Lavender felt a rush of pride and she now saw what the others were smiling so hard about.

"Let's see who can hex more students by the time we get to the common room!" Seamus said. The others agreed and took off running.

Snape had gotten to his breaking point when he stormed into the headmaster's office. He'd been hit by a stray hex once, and he was entirely done with all of the nonsense. "Sir, you've got to put a stop to this. They've all lost their mind and children are being sent to the hospital wing left and right! And yet, you've done nothing!"

Dumbledore smiled serenely. "It will tire itself out by tomorrow."

"But what about _today_?" Snape insisted. "You can't seriously be considering letting them run amuck as they are right now."

"I believe it's the most practice the children have had for the real world in years." Dumbledore said getting up. "We all know what lies ahead for them. And it's nothing good, Severus. If this gets their reflexes up, who are we to stop them?"

"The _teachers_ perhaps? We're telling them it's okay to duel in the middle of the hall!"

"Or we're teaching them to be more aware of their surroundings in an intense environment." Dumbledore suggested. "And it's not as though they believe they can get away with it, you and the other professors will do as you must. Point reduction, detention, whatever it is. And by the end of the day, it will be a story for the younger students to exaggerate to future first years in years to come."

It was with gritted teeth that Snape said, "Very well, sir."

Parvati, Lavender, Dean, and Seamus ran into the semi crowded common room panting heavily, all with large smiles on their faces. "I've never had so much exercise in my life." Lavender panted.

"Ew, I'm all sweaty." Parvati made a face.

The common room was bursting with energy, as usual. People telling stories of who they cursed, those who volunteered to go out again to 'defend integrity' or something of the sort. The Golden Gryffindor Trio were in their usual chairs, Hermione looking as if she might have been telling the other two off (but what else was new).

Dean walked over to them and clapped Harry on the back. "We're destroying them out there, thanks for all the lessons, teacher!"

Hermione shushed him at once as Seamus, Lavender, and Parvati made their way to them as well. "There _are_ still people out there who do not know, remember?"

"Well they'll know soon, won't they?" Seamus asked. "With the books?"

Parvati frowned. "That's a good point. What happens to us when Umbridge reads what we've done?"

Ron said, "We'll have Dumbledore on our side. That will help our chances a lot, I think."

"Dumbledore will be on our side?" Seamus asked. "How can you be sure? I mean we _were_ outright breaking the rules."

"We struck a deal with him." Harry said and Ron had a smug smile. "That we can't get in trouble for anything we've done in the past."

Dean looked like Christmas came early. "Brilliant! Who came up with that."

Ron stretched casually, causing Harry to smirk and Hermione to roll her eyes. "Just came to me."

"Right, well we're going to go to our rooms. We thought we'd read chapter ten today." Lavender said referring to herself and Parvati.

As they started to walk away, Seamus called for them. "Why don't we just read together?"

"Sure." Parvati shrugged. They followed Dean and Seamus to the fifth year Gryffindor male dorms, as they couldn't go up the girl's stairs. "Where's Neville?"

Dean and Seamus both shrugged. "Haven't seen him since class." Dean continued.

"So how do you want to do this?" Seamus said sitting on his bed and flipping through the pages of the book. "Perhaps we could read chapter eleven too, as that's available."

"I say we read as much as possible, since we have to get to chapter twelve before Friday so we can read thirteen in class." Dean answered.

"Just one." Parvati said. "Lavender and I want to do some divination reading. We want to be prepared for our next class."

Both girls broke into giggles and the boys looked at each other. "This about the centaur?"

"You don't fancy him, do you?" Seamus asked while making a face.

"Don't be silly!" Lavender said, still giggling. "It's just about wanting to welcome the new teacher in the best way possible!"

"And the fact that he happens to be quite easy on the eyes is just a bonus!" Parvati said, which caused another fit of giggles.

"What about Trelawney. Thought you loved her." Seamus asked.

"We do!" Lavender exclaimed.

"It was awful what Umbridge did to her. Just awful." Parvati said seriously. "But we're just making the best of a situation!"

Both boys looked at each other and shook their heads at their friends. "Well let's get started then." Lavender said.

* * *

"Of course." Parvati said after reading the last lines of the chapter. " _Of course_ they became friends after fighting a troll, it would happen no other way. Honestly."

"Good reflection of their friendship, isn't it?" Dean grinned.

"They're all so silly. Fighting a troll? Easy. Saying thanks after it's all done? Now that's the hard part!" Lavender giggled.

"I wouldn't say they _all_ fought a troll, Hermione was bloody useless." Seamus said. "I mean, I like her and all but remind me not to be in a life or death situation with her."

"She was _eleven_ you prick!" Parvati defended.

"And she was brilliant in this chapter." Dean continued.

"I wouldn't say _brilliant_..." Lavender mumbled. "I mean I don't blame her for panicking when the troll came, hell I'd do the same, but what she did wasn't exactly brilliant..."

"Right, it was just the decent thing to do, I suppose." Seamus said.

"Oh hush the both of you. Give her credit where it's due!" Parvati started but Lavender cut her off, to the black-haired girl's great annoyance.

"I didn't say it wasn't good of her, I'm just saying she wasn't brilliant in this chapter!" Lavender insisted. "I mean, if we're going to talk about who was brilliant in this chapter I'd say it was Ron! Ron at least waited until they were out of immediate danger to freeze up."

"The whole reason they were there was because Ron was so rude." Dean pointed out.

"He didn't say anything we didn't say at the time." Lavender argued. _Or that we still say sometimes._

"He just said it at the wrong place wrong time." Seamus finished. "I mean she was being a bit of a know it all."

"If it weren't for Hermione being a know it all Ron probably wouldn't have been able to perform the spell." Dean said.

"I bet this will be a good reflection on how their... er... adventures go in the future." Parvati thought aloud. "Harry doing something 'very brave and very stupid' and jumping right on danger's back, Hermione being the brains and Ron being-"

"The hero?" Lavender suggested.

"The clear headed one." Parvati said. "I'll admit he seemed to be the only one with the closest thing to a plan. But they would have gotten nowhere without Hermione's help at the start of the chapter."

"Why are you defending her so much?" Lavender asked. "You don't even like her."

"I don't dislike her!" Parvati defended herself. "I'll admit I find her very annoying sometimes and she needs to keep some of her opinions to herself. But I don't dislike her. And she lied to a _teacher_! Maybe we never gave her a chance."

Dean cut in, "I can't even see her lying like that now and she's loosened up quite a bit since then."

"I can't see her doing something like that now either. Although I suppose I can't see her putting together a defense group and outwardly defying a teacher and the ministry's authority either." Parvati admitted. "Shows how much we know our roommate."

"Well..." Lavender said. "I don't know why she couldn't have just told the truth..."

"Why are you working so hard to discredit her?" Dean asked. Lavender shrugged and made no other comment.

"I'm sure she'll prove herself plenty in future chapters." Seamus said. "I just wasn't overly impressed with her in this one."

Dean and Parvati looked at each other and Dean shrugged while Parvati rolled her eyes.

"Locking the troll in the bathroom wasn't a bad idea either." Seamus said. "If only it were a different room."

"I don't know, I feel like the troll could get through the door pretty easily if it banged on it enough with its club," Parvati said and bit her lip.

"Yeah sure, but if it hadn't been the bathroom Hermione was in, the thing probably wouldn't have even noticed it was locked in at first and Harry and Ron would have saved enough time to get Hermione." Seamus explained. "Hermione would probably convince them to get a teacher and tell them where the troll is, and if she didn't the troll would have eventually made enough noise trying to get out that the teachers would know where to go."

"It's just rotten luck it turned out being the girl's bathroom, and the one Hermione was in no less." Dean said. "Honestly, it's a miracle they're not dead."

"They should have gone to Percy... That's what he's there for." Lavender mumbled.

"I can understand why Harry didn't, not sure about Ron though." Seamus said. "I mean, Harry's had to deal with _all_ of his troubles without help from adults all his life. Why would he suddenly stop that habit?"

"Maybe Ron didn't because he didn't want to get in trouble? Or maybe he wanted to prove he could do something without his brother's help." Parvati suggested.

"Who'd want to go to Percy anyway?" Dean snorted. He stood up and pushed his chest out in a pompous manner " _Follow me! As long as you follow my orders there's no need to fear the troll!_ Good to know staying in an orderly line will completely remove the dangers of a violent, twelve-foot troll."

Parvati giggled. "How did the troll even get from the dungeons to the third floor so quick it's first time in the castle? I couldn't make it anywhere in my first year!"

Seamus snorted. "Right, and when they snuck in with the Hufflepuffs, did they not notice they had two new housemates?"

"To be fair, I had no idea who was in my house back then." Lavender said.

"But one of them was _Harry Potter_ and this was just a month after he came out of hiding. I think I would have noticed." Seamus shrugged.

"Yeah in most circumstances but everyone was in a panic." Lavender shrugged.

"And Snape, what's he doing?" Dean asked. "He's no good at making himself not suspicious."

"Tell me about it." Lavender said. "I'd suspect him too."

They were quiet for a bit before Parvati spoke something she'd been wondering for a while. "Do you think if it were us back then... we'd be able to do the same thing they did?"

Dean crinkled his eyebrows in thought. "I don't know, I don't think we'd ever have found ourselves in that situation."

"Well, what if... I don't know... Seamus said the same thing Ron said but about Lavender- and don't act like you wouldn't have!" Parvati accused.

"He wouldn't have because I wouldn't have shown off like Hermione did. No one's denying she's smart, just that she's a bit of a know-it-all." Lavender said.

"Then let's say he says _anything_ that makes you cry," Parvati insisted. "What do you think would have happened?"

Seamus scratched his head. "Well I don't think you would have left Lavender alone in the bathroom, so you'd probably have been in there too. And we're assuming you don't convince her to come down for the feast?"

Parvati simply nodded.

"Well, when the troll came in I can't promise I would have remembered to think of you." Seamus said somewhat guiltily. "I was bloody scared that day. Harry's a damn saint, he didn't even _like_ Hermione back then and he went after her. But let's say I did remember you guys... I'd have..."

"Gone to a teacher." Dean finished. Parvati huffed in annoyance.

"Let's say all of the circumstances added up and we all ended up in that bathroom with the troll the same way the trio did. What do you think would have happened?"

"I'd have played the same role Hermione did, being scared stiff against the wall." Lavender said.

"Er, I'm not sure any of us would have jumped on the ruddy thing's back." Seamus said. "Not even sure how Harry managed that considering how tall the troll was and how small he was back then."

"Maybe it was crouched down. Or maybe he floated a bit without realizing it." Dean shrugged. "I... I would have just been throwing things at it. I didn't know enough spells back then. And since I hadn't mastered _Wingardium Leviosa_ and never had Hermione help me with it that day, I probably wouldn't have thought of that."

Parvati bit her lip as she tried to think of what her role would be but came up with nothing.

"Honestly?" Lavender said. "I think Seamus would have accidentally set the troll on fire."

All of them proceeded to laugh, Seamus while going a little red. "I still don't know how I managed to turn a levitation charm into a blasting one, or whatever I did."

"Harry came to the rescue again, putting it out with his hat." Dean smirked.

"I always forget we're supposed to wear hats." Lavender said. "I usually wear them for a day or two and then they stay tucked in my trunk for the remainder of the year."

"What else even happened this chapter?" Parvati asked. "The troll outshone it all."

"Harry rode his Nimbus for the first time." Dean said. "I don't know how he's such a natural, I think I only just started to get the hang of it last year and that's after loads of practice."

"Yeah there was no adjustment period for him." Seamus said. "He just went on about how easy it is. He didn't think about how uncomfortable it is to sit on a broom for the first time, especially considering our specific equipment down there. He also didn't think about how you have to keep your legs locked on the broom otherwise you fall off, but maybe that part's easier for him if he did a lot of running when he was younger. But it's also bloody hard keeping those things in control!"

"That's why he's a child prodigy." Dean shrugged. "In fact, all of the Gryffindor team were young that year. Wood was the oldest and he was a fifth year. The rest of the team were second and third years."

"Yeah they were a particularly young team." Seamus nodded. "The Quidditch Cup should have been theirs, they were probably the best team Gryffindor had in a long while."

"We know why it wasn't theirs. At least they got it third year. It would have been a shame if they hadn't gotten it ever with how good the team was." Dean said. "Good on Malfoy for being a prat, otherwise Harry wouldn't have joined and the position probably would have been filled by the time he realized he wanted to."

"Yeah, it really did all start with Malfoy. And imagine his face when he saw the broom!" Seamus laughed.

" _That's a broom._ Good job, mate. Ten points to Slytherin." Dean snorted. "He must have been kicking himself..."

He trailed off when he noticed the unamused looks from the girls. "Oh, remembered us, did you?" Parvati asked.

Dean and Seamus looked sheepish. "Sorry," they said.

"I do have one question about Quidditch." Lavender admitted. Parvati looked at her like she was a traitor. "Oliver said in the book that a game lasted three months, how'd that happen? And how can you know the snitch doesn't fly... out of the country or something?"

"That's two questions." Parvati grumbled.

"Well, the snitch doesn't fly off cause there's a barrier charm around the quidditch field, it can only go so far." Seamus said. "I reckon the three month game was because it got caught on something or stuck somewhere and no one could find it. Or maybe the seekers just sucked."

"Are we done talking about Quidditch then?" Parvati asked.

Dean nodded with a small smile. "Interesting that Harry's already adopted wizard logo, isn't it? He's already calling non-magical people muggles."

"As opposed to..." Seamus prompted.

Dean shrugged. "I don't know. But it took me a while to think of them as muggles because I suppose I still sort of saw myself as one of them, and I never thought of _myself_ as a muggle. But I guess that just shows how much Harry wasn't connected to that world."

"I never had that issue." Lavender said.

"Well of course not, you're a pureblood." Dean said.

"I'm a half blood, I never had any problem with it. But I did find out about magic fairly early on." Seamus thought aloud. "Harry's no normal boy anyway."

"Right. He almost got eaten by a three headed dog and he thinks it's a fun adventure!" Lavender shook her head.

"Well... that is sorta normal for a boy." Seamus smiled almost embarrassingly.

"Not just boys, I'd probably have seen it as an adventure as well had I been there and I lived." Parvati said. "The best stories are the ones where you almost die, right?"

"I'd rather have no stories." Lavender crossed her arms. "Neville being more concerned with never going near the dog again was smart."

"I will say Harry probably wouldn't get into some of the things he gets into if he just left well enough alone." Dean chuckled.

"Exactly." Lavender said.

"But I agree, I'd have found the whole thing great fun after it was all done." Dean grinned.

Lavender roller her eyes. "Well, anyway I think that's about all I have to say on this chapter. We're about halfway through, aren't we? Merlin time's moving fast in this."

"More than halfway, actually, from the looks of it." Seamus said. "Halfway was likely a chapter or so ago."

"Time's probably moving so fast because the book's only talking about the big stuff. The month between Harry's birthday and the day we board the express wasn't mentioned, most of what happens in class after the first day isn't mentioned either." Parvati said. "That's probably how most of the books are going to go."

Seamus held up the fifth and largest book. "A lot must happen in this one."

"Of course." Parvati said. "That's the Umbridge book."

"I just had a thought!" Dean practically yelped. "Do you think we'll read about ourselves getting the books in that one?"

Seamus raised an eyebrow. "If so, I'm not reading the rest. I'd be reading about reading and then eventually I'll be reading about reading about reading. It would never end."

"But are we sure that's even Harry's fifth year?" Lavender asked.

"It's... the fifth book." Parvati said.

"Yeah but there are two other books after it and he's just a fifth year. How do we know it's cut up by year?" Lavender asked. "And if it _is_ , does that mean the books tell the future?"

Dean sighed. "I guess we'll find out."


	11. Quidditch

_So I'm going to post once a week, like I said, and chapter 12 will come next week, but chapter 13 won't come for two weeks after. I have to have my beta read the chapters and I want to go through them before I post them so I need a little bit of time, because since school started my time has been limited with a capitol L. Anyway, I hope you enjoy. You'll get the explanation of how M & H ended up nearly dueling in a really stupid place next chapter in the beginning._

 _Disclaimer, I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters and this is not a way for me to criticize the books. It's just how I believe the characters would react if_ they _read JK Rowling's brilliant work._

* * *

 _ **In This Chapter: Harry has his first game of quidditch where he nearly dies, but what else is new. The trio also get a new name to research: Nicolas Flamel**_

* * *

Chapter 11

"Well," Parvati got up. "This was fun, but I think we're going to go."

Lavender got up as well and the girls waved to the boys, who waved back. As the door shut behind Parvati and Lavender, Dean turned to Seamus. "Want to read eleven and twelve and be done with it?"

Seamus shrugged. "Sure."

The door opened and Dean and Seamus were expecting Harry or Ron, or even Lavender or Parvati again, but it was Neville. He looked miserable. He didn't even seem to notice Dean or Seamus as he slumped into the room and basically fell onto his bed.

"You alright there, Neville?" Seamus asked. Neville jumped and looked round at them. Then his shoulders sunk again.

"Oh. I thought you were downstairs with everyone else." Neville said.

"What's the matter?" Dean asked. Neville didn't answer so Seamus asked his own question.

"Where've you been all day? I feel like you haven't been around." he asked.

"Hospital wing." Neville said miserably. "I got hexed and jinxed several times. I think maybe some people were aiming for me in particular."

"Sorry about that, mate." Dean said. He thought about going over and rubbing his back but the truth was, he wasn't all that close to Neville. They were dormmates and even friends, but he thought rubbing the boy's back might be a little too awkward for where their friendship stood.

"Did you get anyone back?" Seamus asked hungrily.

Neville shook his head as he laid back down on his bed face first. He talked into his mattress so the other two boys had to strain to hear what he was saying. "I was too busy trying not to get hexed again to do any hexing myself."

"You were getting so good in the DA," Dean said and glanced at Seamus. Dean had previously gotten the permission of the trio to inform his best mate about what he's been doing and where he's been going. Seamus had an idea, as Dean tried to get him to go to the first meeting at the Hog's Head, but Dean hadn't been able to give any more details after that. Now he knew and they were both excited for their next meeting, whenever it was. "Maybe you just need some confidence..." Dean trailed off when Neville got up again and properly sat on his bed. He took his time kicking off his shoes before sliding back to lean against the back of the bed.

"I don't know. I don't think it was that, actually. My aim's improved a lot and... and I think I've gotten some of the spells Harry's taught us." Neville pointed out.

"So what do you think it is?" Seamus asked.

Neville looked hesitant to answer and embarrassed as well. After a moment of fidgeting he finally said, "I didn't have anyone to look out for my back, you know? It was pretty much just me out there. There were so many people, I couldn't block them from all angles."

Dean and Seamus looked at each other, suddenly feeling awkward and almost wishing they hadn't asked. There were five boys in their room. Dean and Seamus became friends the first day they were at school, Harry and Ron hit it off right away, too. They'd all found the second half of their own dynamic duos right away, but they were an odd number of dormmates. Neville never got the opportunity to get his right hand man.

They _all_ liked Neville, he was a hard person to dislike. But Neville just wasn't anyone's first choice of someone to hang with... or second choice... or even third. It was nobody's fault, but maybe they could all work harder to include Neville. Even in the last chapter of the books, the narrative explained that Harry was glad to have Seamus as a partner because Neville apparently wanted to be partners with him but Harry did not. Before either Dean or Seamus could say anything, Neville kept going, his eyes carefully not watching either of them.

"I think if I found some people I would have been fine. Harry, Ron, Hermione, even Luna or Ginny... I have some friends in Hufflepuff..." Neville continued. Seamus felt a little hurt he hadn't been mentioned in that list, but at the same time, why would he be? "But, well, there just wasn't anyone waiting for me to finish packing up my things to walk out of class together. Or anyone to come to the hospital wing and leave with me."

Dean rubbed the back of his neck. "Nev..."

"I'm not," Neville began a little louder. "Trying to get sympathy or anything. I'm just saying... I think I would have lasted longer had I had someone to watch my back."

Dean and Seamus looked at each other. The truth was, they hardly noticed that they might have left Neville alone sometimes. For one thing, he was always a little bit closer to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. But even then, they're called the Gryffindor _trio_ not the Gryffindor quartet, so how close could they all really be? Friendly but not friends? Or even, friends but not good friends?

"I know you would have!" Seamus spoke up suddenly, causing the other two boys to look at him, slightly startled. "Would have done better, that is, if you had someone to cover your arse. So Dean and I, we'll have to be your arse cover-ers. This is a job we're going to have to take very seriously. Dean?"

"I agree, that means we always have to be on step behind you." Dean jumped right in. "Can't cover your arse if we're in front of you. So we're always going to have to wait for you to pack up your things. You'll be surprised how sick of us you'll get."

Neville still looked embarrassed, maybe even more embarrassed now, but he still smiled and said, "Thanks."

"Don't mention it. And since we're here, maybe you'd like to read with us?" Dean shrugged. "That's what we were about to do. Did you read chapter ten?"

"Er, no I didn't. Sorry." Neville said.

"Well you can read it now and we'll wait for you to be done, and we could read the next chapter." Seamus suggested. Neville smiled again and went in his bag for his book. He was aware this was pretty much pity friendship, but he also knew it came from a place of genuineness. He liked Dean and he liked Seamus, so there was no reason to deny their efforts. While Neville read through chapter ten, a bit faster than he normally did as he didn't want to keep Seamus and Dean waiting, the others played a quick game of exploding snap on Dean's bed. Neville was finished in no time, though.

"Wow." Neville said as he finished the tenth chapter, and joined them by sitting on the foot of Dean's bed. Neville hesitated at first before Seamus pulled him down. In their first year, he and Hermione had formed a friendship by being sort of the outcasts. After that night, she, Harry, and Ron were inseparable. Neville had felt like he'd lost his one friend, even if this wasn't true. While he was sure he would have been pissing himself and done little good at the time, he almost wished he were in that bathroom with that troll, as well. Neville had yet to see a friendship closer than Hermione, Ron, and Harry. He got jealous of it more times than he could count.

"I know." Dean grinned, oblivious to Neville's thoughts. "Only they would forge a friendship like that."

Neville silently agreed.

"Just to settle a debate, do you think Hermione was 'brilliant' in this chapter?" Seamus asked. Neville shrugged.

"I think Hermione's always brilliant. And it was good of her to try and keep Ron and Harry out of trouble." Neville said. Dean looked smugly at Seamus, who ignored him.

"Let's get into this next chapter, shall we?" Seamus said, annoyed that he was now outnumbered.

While reading the chapter on Harry's first Quidditch game, all three boys seemed to come to the agreement that reading about Quidditch is not nearly as fun as watching it. They got through the chapter quickly and then Seamus dropped it to his side.

"Nicolas Flamel. Hagrid's got to be the worst person with secrets in the history of... Wizardry. Why does Dumbledore tell him anything?" Seamus said.

"Because he would trust Hagrid with his life," Dean said in a bad impression of their head of school. Seamus and Neville smiled with amusement.

"Either that or he wanted them to find out." Neville said. Dean and Seamus looked at him, clearly shocked. "Probably not, though."

"Wasn't that the time those three spent all of their free time in the library?" Dean asked. "At the time I thought Hermione rubbed off on them pretty quickly."

"We all thought that." Seamus said. "And who's betting the rest of the school's going to be in there researching the name too, now."

"It would be easier having the entire school on the job. Especially because at least one person probably knows what he did." Neville absentmindedly tapped on the pages of the book in no real rhythm.

"I'm curious myself," Dean said staring at the name. "I might go to the library myself."

"I'm sure Harry, Ron, and Hermione all know now. We could probably just ask them." Neville pointed out.

"I didn't even think about that." Dean chuckled. "Apparently what Seamus and I were missing this entire time was your common sense, Nev."

Neville smirked a bit.

"I'm still betting everyone's going to be researching the Flamel bloke." Seamus said.

"Don't go around betting," Dean said. "Harry bet his broomstick that Snape was the one who let the troll in. And I do plan on collecting."

"He didn't bet you!" Neville said laughing. "And even if he did, he bet his nimbus! Do you really want that pile of splinters?"

Dean frowned. "On second thought..."

"Only a Dementor could really get Harry off of his broom." Seamus commented with a bit of a laugh. "I mean, bloody hell the thing was _bucking_ and he still managed to stay on."

"What a memorable game," Dean sighed in remembrance of the first Quidditch game he ever saw.

"It was piss-yourself terrifying, you mean." Seamus stated with no room for disagreement. "Neville cried."

"I was eleven!" Neville defended himself with pink cheeks.

"Hey, no judgement here, mate, I was right there with you." Seamus said.

"And not to mention it seemed to be going on for even longer than we realized. It said no one noticed at first." Dean said shaking his head. "I was scared just looking at him, imagine how terrified he would have been?"

"Really shows you what an impressive flyer he is." Neville acknowledged. "Even back then. I would have fallen off for sure."

"Most people would have." Seamus agreed.

"And it could have been avoided if Flint hadn't blocked him from catching the snitch the first time. All of the bucking and everything happened after that." Neville seemed to realize in that moment.

"Flint could have knocked him off his broom there," Dean said. "Hagrid was right when he said the rules should be changed a bit. Flint shouldn't have been able to keep playing after that one."

"No way, the game's been how it has since forever! Sure the rules are a little bit blasé," Seamus conceded. "But that's what makes the game interesting!"

"Watching our classmate almost die is interesting?" Neville questioned.

"A good story came out of it." Seamus held up the book. "And you should read about other crazy matches. _Quidditch Through The Ages_ has them. That's the only book I've Granger'd."

Neville looked surprised. "You've what?"

"Granger'd. Read and memorized cover to cover." Seamus explained. "Parvati, Lav, Dean and I coined the phrase in our second year."

"All in good fun, of course." Dean said quickly seeing the look on Neville's face. "Not to make fun of her or anything."

"Well, I don't know about that, but I do know the safety of our _friends_ should be more important than an interesting game or a good story." Neville scolded.

"In his defense, I think wizards are sometimes hindered by magic. Most injuries are healed immediately, so we don't take them as seriously and we're not as careful." Dean said.

"Should I be insulted?" Seamus asked. "I'm not sure."

Neville snorted. "The important part is that Harry got back onto his broom."

"Yeah," Seamus grinned. "After Hermione set Snape on fire!"

He roared with laughter and Dean and Neville couldn't help but join in. Dean said, "Yeah, I can't believe I never knew about that! I know it _said_ she got better about the rules, but she never seemed like it back then."

"We thought she rubbed off on Ron and Harry, apparently they rubbed off on her!" Seamus snorted.

"Brilliant. She was brilliant!" Dean was saying. "Seamus you can't deny-"

"I'd never!" Seamus said. "I wanna get a banner! Say, Dean, you think you could do another one like the one you made for Harry for his first game? But make it say, HERMIONE SET SNAPE ON FIRE!"

The dormitory was filled with laughter again, though Neville went quiet first as he made a thoughtful expression. "Say... that's not a bad idea."

"We'll put it in the Great Hall," Seamus said, still snickering.

"No, no, although I reckon we should do that too. I was thinking we could make another banner like that, only this time we could do it for Ron. That way he might be more confident in his next game and maybe won't be so... you know..."

"Clumsy?" Dean suggested.

"I was going to say nervous." Neville said with a smile.

"I like it, that banner was some of my best work." Dean grinned.

"And if it helps Gryffindor win, the better!" Seamus raved. "We need all the help we can get, especially now that Harry can't play."

"Well maybe Harry won't get hurt so much now that he's not playing." Neville said. "He nearly dies in every game!"

"Almost every game." Dean corrected. "But you're right, maybe we should have taken what happened at his first game as an omen or something."

"After a game like that, I'm not surprised he needed a cuppa tea." Neville continued.

"If I were Hagrid I would have dumped the tea and gave him a cuppa whisky instead!" Seamus joked.

"I wouldn't have minded that after my run-in with _Fluffy_." Neville mumbled.

"Fluffy." Dean scoffed. "Only Hagrid would name a three headed dog Fluffy."

Seamus shrugged. "Maybe it really was fluffy."

"Hagrid sees the best in everything. Even giant, man eating, three headed dogs." Neville said.

"That's probably why he was so determined not to believe them about Snape." Seamus concluded.

"Well, I think he had more faith in Dumbledore than Snape himself, considering his argument." Dean countered. "Notice he said nothing of Snape's character, just about how he'd never do anything because he's a Hogwarts teacher. Mind, his logic's quite flawed, especially now."

"What do you mean?" Neville asked.

"Well just look at who we've had as teachers! We know it turned out not to be Snape, obviously," Dean began to explain.

"Although Snape is the most suspicious person ever." Seamus interrupted him. Dean ignored him (but agreed).

"But it _was_ Quirrell," Dean continued. "Who was still a Hogwarts teacher! Then there was Lockhart, the crazy bloke who posed as Mad Eye..."

"And Umbridge!" Seamus butted in fiercely.

"Exactly." Dean said with a bit of a smile at Seamus.

Neville nodded. "So being a Hogwarts teacher doesn't stop someone from being-"

"A heartless, soulless toad?" Seamus suggested.

"Evil, yeah." Neville laughed.

Seamus stretched and yawned, laying comfortably on Dean's side. "Their first mistake was not telling Hagrid while the whole thing was happening."

"Yeah, because you would have kept a cool enough head to think of doing that." Dean quirked an eyebrow at him.

"I wonder why Hagrid didn't hear them while they were talking about it." Neville wondered.

"Too high up." Seamus murmured with a lazy wave of his hand in the air to signify height.

"You mean they were too high into the air and the winds were blowing too strong for their conversation to be heard clearly?" Neville asked.

"That," Seamus said slowly. "Or Hagrid's head, and therefore ears, were too high above Ron and Hermione to be in the range of their conversation. But it was probably that thing with the air and.. Whatever you just said."

"Yeah sure, or they were just speaking hushed and quietly." Dean said with a slight roll of his eyes. _They would certainly get enough practice at it_ , he thought. It was when they were trying to figure out who Nicolas Flamel was when they first started to get secretive. It never really stopped after that. Dean realized, with a start, that he was going to know quite in depth just what those three always whispered about. He'd wondered since his first year, but he never thought he'd ever actually know.

"Yeah, you're probably right." Seamus brought Dean back to where he was. "Especially since Neville didn't seem to hear either."

"I didn't." Neville confirmed.

"But that might have been because he was crying." Seamus finished.

"I was eleven!" Neville shouted. Dean and Seamus laughed. Neville was warmed by the fact that he was not embarrassed, but knew that they were just joshing him, as friends. He joined them in laughing. "Did you notice the way it changed perspective in the middle of the chapter?"

"Oi yeah, what was that about?" Seamus grunted. "Bloody confusing, that was."

"Who's perspective was that in? Ron's? Hagrid's?" Dean asked.

"Hermione's, probably, since it followed her to setting Snape on fire." Seamus said.

"Unless it just switched again when she ran." Neville pointed out. Seamus groaned.

"Hopefully that doesn't happen too often." he said.

Neville looked at his watch and began to get up. "About time for dinner. Are you coming?"

"Right behind you, Nev." Dean said getting up as well.

"Arse protectors, one stop behind!" Seamus announced. He was actually a few steps behind because he was the last to get up. Dean and Neville were the first to get to the common room and therefore noticed the common room was mostly empty.

"Probably all in the Great Hall." Neville concluded as they walked towards the portrait. Seamus caught up and followed them out. The topic found Quidditch again as Seamus talked animatedly about the unintentional advantage the Ravenclaws had by having blue uniforms.

"I mean, I'm all for representing the house colors, but we're big scarlet targets in the air!" Seamus ranted.

"At least the uniform isn't yellow." Neville said, remembering hearing something similar from Ernie MacMillian.

"What's this here?" Dean said as they came across a gathering of students just a bit outside the Entrance Hall.

It reminded them of the circle that had formed around Umbridge and Trelawney when the latter had gotten fired. They fought their way to the middle where Ron and Harry were facing Malfoy and his goons.

"What's happening?" Neville asked. Hannah Abbott, who was close by, answered him.

"They're having the duel that never happened." Hannah said in an excited whisper.

Seamus didn't miss a beat. "Kick his arse, Harry!"

"Is arse your favorite word or something?" Neville asked above the loud applause that followed Seamus' yell. Seamus grinned in reply.

"So, is Crabbe still your second?" Ron asked as the surrounding crowd quieted down, not wanting to miss a thing.

"Actually," Blaise moved up. "I'll be his second. Back up Crabbe, Goyle."

Perhaps too good at taking orders, the troll like boys took a few steps back. Hermione was behind her two friends looking pretty annoyed. "Wasn't the duel you two had in front of everyone in second year enough?"

"That didn't end right." Ron said without taking his eyes off of the Slytherins.

"What's ending right?" Hermione argued. "Ending in death?"

 _Well technically..._ Neville thought.

"Are we doing this or not?" Malfoy cut Ron and Hermione's argument short.

"I should think, not!" came the stern voice of none other than Professor McGonagall. The crowd parted for her as all four boys in the middle of the circle dropped their wands and looked with wide eyes. "I've just about had it with the ridiculous dueling in the halls! It is strictly forbidden! And the example you're setting for the younger students!"

Those on the edges of the crowd found their ways into the Great Hall without notice while those in the middle were stuck. McGonagall came closer to the near duelers and they all took an unintentional step back.

"I think that's fifty points each from both of you, twenty points from your _seconds_ , and if I could, I'd take away more for starting this all in your first year!" McGonagall said as the rubies and emeralds shot up the hourglasses. "I will refrain from doing that, as I know you could not have known such a thing would happen. But your response to sneaking out and breaking rules at eleven is to break more rules at fifteen?"

No one dared speak, especially not Harry, but McGonagall still approached him. "I am not sure how the books came to us, nor do I agree with Professor Umbridge's distribution of them. But take them as an opportunity to learn from your mistakes, not expand upon them."

With that she turned and walked to the Great Hall doors. She paused, looking back. "I expect you all to follow me in here, or else to your dormitories. And be glad it was I who caught you and not her."

She walked through the door, followed by the floods of students who had tried to watch the Potter-Malfoy duel. Malfoy and Blaise looked at each other and followed the rest of them. Dean and Seamus went as well and so Neville followed, but not before hearing Hermione, Ron, and Harry.

"She's right, you know." Hermione said.

"Yeah I know." Harry muttered.

"Would have loved to see you blast Malfoy's head off." Ron said eloquently.

"Nice, Ron." Hermione said as Harry laughed.


	12. The Mirror Of Erised

_This was supposed to go out yesterday. Those who follow my twitter and tumblr know that (and know why it didn't) but considering my last delay was like five months, I think I'm doing pretty okay this time!_

 _I forgot to ask this last chapter but I wanted to know. Thoughts on Deamus? Do we like it? Do we hate it? I'm pretty much doing cannon couples, but only three are set in stone. Harry/Ginny, Ron/Hermione, and Remus/Tonks are not changing (though I do love Remus/Sirius). Everyone else, I think, I can be a little less strict about so tell me what you think! Tell me what you want! I'm going to be switching perspectives a lot so all characters are important enough._

 _Also, tell me if there's anyone in particular you want to read something. I have my picks for book one, so those won't be changing. Unless there's an idea I really like, but if that happens you can expect a delay in updates. For example, there's a small little reaction in this chapter that was not previously in my plans but I like how it came out. I'm going to be starting to write for book 2 a bit later on, I haven't planned out everyone who's reading what chapters, so let me know if there's anyone in particular you want to read something. My only rule is they have to already have the book. No parents, siblings, relatives, creatures, or anyone else who isn't already reading is going to be added to the story, this was a rule I made for myself. Sirius and Remus are the only exception to the ONLY HOGWARTS rule I made for myself (and I'm being strict about it. Believe me, I have to be, or else all of the wizarding world would be reading, plus the Dursleys, probably)._

 _God this is getting long, so I'll save my last point for the bottom. Happy reading!_

 _Disclaimer, I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters and this is not a way for me to criticize the books. It's just how I believe the characters would react if_ they _read JK Rowling's brilliant work._

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 **In this chapter: Harry has the best Christmas ever and receives and invisibility cloak as well! He uses it to go exploring and finds a room with a mirror that shows him what his parents look like. He didn't expect Dumbledore to be there, though.**

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Chapter 12

Harry sat in the Great Hall with Hermione and Ron at breakfast as Parvati curled her eyelashes with her wand. He was quite ready for Divination and it had nothing to do with the classwork. He had questions and he hoped Firenze would answer them, though he was reminded of when Hagrid had asked the centaurs' simple questions in his detention in the forest. Firenze was always pretty helpful though, perhaps this time would be different. Hermione had just opened up her copy of the daily prophet when Parvati glanced at her for a moment and smirked.

"I'll bet you wish you hadn't given up Divination now, don't you, Hermione?" she asked as she examined her eyelashes in her spoon. Hermione responded (whatever she said made Lavender gasp) but Harry's attention was redirected to Seamus, Dean, and Neville who came down talking happily.

"Hiya, Harry. You look chipper!" Seamus said. It was thoroughly untrue, Harry could not look more tired if he tried. "I'd look like that if I were so close to blasting Malfoy off his arse but got thwarted just before I could, too."

"How'd that even happen?" Neville asked. "Or almost happen?"

"We were going to the Great Hall when someone tried to catch one of us off guard and hex us. I think it was Parkinson." Ron informed them.

"So she hasn't stopped being a cow, then?" Parvati interrupted her own conversation. "I hoped maybe she grew a heart. You know, because she helped with the Dursleys."

"She was just in it for cursing muggles. We simply used that to our advantage." Hermione informed her. "I will say, I think she had an extra vendetta for Harry's relatives, though, so maybe her heart defrosted a little, but not enough to change her."

"So what happened when she tried to curse you?" Dean asked.

"All three of us managed a shield charm in time, and it bounced off of mine and Hermione's right to Malfoy." Harry said in an almost bored tone. "It missed him but just by an inch, and he thought it was an invitation to dish out insults."

"That's when Harry said, 'how about we finish what we never started?' and Malfoy was in just a foul enough mood to not chicken out this time." Ron explained. "I swear the crowd materialized after that."

"I'm assuming you know the rest, based on the fact that you were yelling at me to 'kick his arse' not soon after that." Harry actually smirked a bit and Seamus grinned at his favorite word. "What were you talking about when you came down?"

"We were just talking about chapter eleven." Dean informed them.

"We haven't read it." Ron admitted. "We haven't even finished chapter ten."

"Really?" Parvati asked. "You're going pretty slow."

"We've already done all of it, though." Harry shrugged. "We know Ron makes Hermione cry," Ron's ears went red and he looked ashamed. "We know the troll breaks in. It feels useless to read about it all, I could have told you the story."

"But the next chapter's about _quidditch_!" Seamus said looking at Ron as if he should understand but Ron did not meet his eyes as he was busy with his food.

"Well, to be fair, it's not quite as good reading about the game as it is watching it." Neville conceded.

"Oh great, sometimes I don't even like watching it." Parvati mumbled.

"You haven't read it yet?" Dean asked.

"We will, tonight probably." Lavender said. "We told you, we wanted to prepare for Divination!"

Before Parvati and Lavender could get deeper into that conversation, Neville turned to Hermione. "So do even you dislike reading these books?"

Hermione glanced away from her newspaper to her bag where the first book was. "Well Harry doesn't like them, so it's hard for me to like them because it makes him uncomfortable."

The others glanced at Harry, who did not look up at them. They'd forgotten, for a moment, what this must feel like for him.

"But, I just keep trying to figure out what the point of them is." Hermione finally put her paper down. "I can't even begin to think of how they came to be, but why are they here? Why is Umbridge making us read them?"

"To embarrass me." Harry mumbled.

"No, Harry, I think that's an added bonus. I think she's up to something... I think she has an agenda." Hermione said as her eyes found the pink spot in the hall. Harry looked up as Hermione's words sunk in.

"Well she wants to find out about Harry's secrets, doesn't she?" Ron said as he and Harry and Hermione barely noticed Dean, Seamus, Lavender, Parvati, and Neville watching them curiously. It seemed the trio had unintentionally included them in one of their private conversations. They were usually so quiet.

"But think about the day she assigned them, Ron!" Hermione insisted in an energetic whisper. "She said she wants to _clear things up_!"

"She wants to prove I'm lying?" Harry asked and slowly grinned. "But I'll be able to prove I'm not."

"Well that's the thing." Hermione said crossing her arms. "If she really believes you're lying, then yes, she wants to expose you. But if she knows you're not and only wants everyone to think you are, then what's her plan?"

The trio were quiet before Hermione turned to her classmates. "What do you think?"

The surprise on all of them was almost comical. "Us?" asked Lavender.

"What do you think are her motives?" Hermione asked slowly as if speaking to someone quite daft. Neither her, Harry, or Ron realized that those who were watching them had been afraid of speaking up and alerting them to their presence for fear of being shut out again.

"Do you want to hear our ideas as well?" Neville asked Harry.

"I'm open to suggestions." Harry shrugged.

"Is something wrong?" Hermione asked.

"You must realize how strange this is for us," Parvati explained. "You're all usually so... private."

"Nothing's private anymore." Ron grunted. Harry had been feeling violated since the book's first appearance. Ron and Hermione were beginning to as well. However it was specifically the tenth chapter, the one with the troll, that had them most indignant. It was an important part of their friendship, and they did not particularly want to share it with anyone. Now, though, it had been shared with everyone and they got no say. It almost wasn't conscious, but the fact that nothing they did was private anymore caused them to not care who overheard them. Why keep secrets if they didn't stay secret?

"So, any thoughts?" Harry asked.

"Erm... well I think she doesn't believe you, so she's using the books to prove you're wrong." Neville said, still uncertainly.

"It would have been smart of her to read ahead of time." Seamus said. "Know for sure before she embarrasses herself, right?"

"We never said she was smart." Ron joked.

"But how did she even get them?" Hermione asked. "Did she get them herself in some illegitimate way?"

"No she didn't." Harry said. "We found them at the same time."

Hermione snapped to him. "What?"

Harry recounted the night he, and then Umbridge, found the books, and then seeing them on his desk the next day. Hermione looked ready to burst.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Ron asked for Hermione who was going a little red.

"I didn't think it matt-"

"Of course it matters!" Hermione cried out and gained the attention of those nearby. She quieted down a bit. "Don't you want to know how they got here? Why they're here? What they're meant for? I've been thinking this whole time she had done something crafty, but they weren't even meant for her, were they? They were meant for you, Harry! They were always meant for you! Don't you know what this means?"

She turned wild eyes to all of them. Ron and Harry were used to this behavior when Hermione started putting pieces together, but the others looked a bit frightened.

"It means the person who sent this was on _our_ side!" Hermione said when no one answered her. "Think about it. If they were Umbridge's books that she or some colleague made for her, they were made out of spite! To embarrass and expose you. But they were made and sent to you specifically. Not to embarrass you, because you'd have gotten to choose who you shared it with! But that must mean they have another purpose..."

"Hermione," Ron looked a little amused. "We can think about it later, can't we? We've got class now."

"Oh!" Lavender shot up and looked at Parvati panicked. "We don't want to be late!"

Parvati got up after her as the two practically ran from the room. Hermione did not look impressed by them.

"Well, fine. I will see you at break then, we can finish reading chapter ten then, and maybe more." Hermione said getting up. Ron and Harry groaned. "Stop it, you two! I understood putting it off before, I really did!" And it was true. Sure, Harry's mind was fascinating, but it was _Harry's_ mind and she felt invasive being inside of it. Not to mention it felt personal for her as well with as much as she was already mentioned in it, and would continue to be mentioned in it in the future. "But it's different now. Someone sent them to Harry for a reason!"

"I s'pose." Harry mumbled.

"Okay, so we'll finish chapter ten at break." Hermione said with no room for arguments. They watched her walk off.

"Is she always like that?" Dean asked.

"You've been around her for five years, Dean." Ron said getting up.

"But not when she's, erm, excited like that." Dean answered. "We're sort of realizing we don't know you all as much as we thought."

Neither Ron nor Harry answered them. Neville looked between them and then turned to Dean and Seamus.

"I'll catch up." he said in a way that told them clearly he wanted to speak to Harry and Ron. Dean and Seamus nodded and Neville turned to Ron and Harry. "Walk to class together?"

At first as they walked they didn't say anything but waited until they were out of the noisy Great Hall. When they were out, they walked very slowly. Then, Neville asked, "Are you alright?"

"It's like we said, Nev, nothing's private." Ron said. "You think I wanted the whole school to know what I told Harry about my brothers on the express?"

"No I suppose not." Neville mumbled. He glanced at Harry.

"Something's coming up, in one of these next chapters, that I really don't want anyone else to read." Harry finally admitted why he was so down. He never thought what he saw in the Mirror of Erised would be broadcasted to the entire Hogwarts population. Some might have already read it, if the pitying looks people gave him were any indication. Though he'd been getting them for a while, so it was hard to tell if it was due to any new information.

"You mean like how your aunt and uncle treated you?" Neville asked. Harry noted that Neville said 'treated' and reflected that Neville will soon find they have not yet stopped treating Harry badly.

"No." Harry answered.

"Oh, er, you mean like the wand thing?" Neville asked.

"Even more personal." Harry grumbled. Ron frowned, wondering once again if there was something that could be done about this whole mess.

"Oh." was all Neville said. The only thing said after that was when Neville explained Divination was moved to classroom eleven. Said classroom had been decorated to be just like the forest that it was like stepping right into it. After an unusual class with Firenze, Harry lingered.

"Are you coming, Harry?" Ron asked.

"Actually, I would like a word with you, Harry Potter." Firenze said. Ron hesitated until Firenze said he could stay. Firenze then told Harry to deliver a message to Hagrid, that the latter should abandon his efforts on whatever it was he was working on. This did temporarily displace Harry's question for the centaur as he wanted to know what Hagrid was up to, but Firenze would give up no information. He said he would not "betray his secret" and then dismissed Harry, but Harry was not finished.

"Erm, but I was wondering if I could ask you a question?" Harry carefully selected his words. He was not leaving yet and he was gonna ask questions, but saying that may do nothing but make things worse.

"And what question is that?" Firenze allowed.

"I, well, I..." Harry had to admit to himself he didn't know the exact way to phrase what he was asking. "Er, is there a way to look into someone's future...?"

Firenze eyed him contemplatively but said nothing so Harry continued.

"A specific person's future, that is? Not just... not just the future itself, but the future related to a particular individual? And... is it possible to do so without that person's knowledge?"

He saw from behind him Ron's understanding of what he was asking.

"No." Firenze said shortly and Harry was so shocked by the quick and not vague answer that he was sure he had been dismissed until Firenze continued. "The future is indeterminable, and while there may be a direction for the individual, it is rarely a clear one, though many attempt to see it. Different futures float around, they form and deform themselves. The past, however, is remembered."

"The past is..." Harry repeated, perplexed. He turned and looked at Ron, who shrugged.

"If the past has been lived through, it is in memory of that who has lived it until that person ceases to exist. Can you change a memory?" Firenze asked.

"...Um..."

"Is changing a memory the same as changing the past?" Firenze asked.

Ron decided to have a go at it. "Yes?"

Firenze eyed the fake sky of the room. "Mars has been bright for many years."

"Is... Is it not still?" Harry asked.

"Still bright." Firenze answered. "Just not quite as."

Many hours later, when the sky was inky, Sirius dropped the book and ran away up the stairs to his room. Remus watched him with a burning in his eyes, nose, and throat that hinted at the threat of tears. He put a hand through his hair as the other hand held the book, he was shaking. He swallowed, feeling like there was a knot in his throat constricting his air flow. He wondered if he should follow Sirius, though he didn't think it would help.

Sirius had never been much one to hide his emotions. Remus and James were always the type, well Remus tried to be anyway. Usually it didn't work, James, however, had always been very good at hiding his emotions. Too good, sometimes, and perhaps that was where Harry got it. James used humor to hide his emotions and he was so boisterous it was sometimes hard to tell if he were upset. Except with Lily, when Lily was involved he could never seem to cover up as well.

Sirius, though, didn't like to bottle things up. It was sometimes a good thing, though it sometimes lead to arguments because Sirius liked to hash things out right away. That's how he'd been when he was young anyway. Since Azkaban, Sirius would run and hide if any negative emotion came up in him. It likely didn't help that James, who Remus knew Sirius would always go to, was no longer around.

Remus wiped away the wetness in his eyes. It was almost too much. After the first night of reading nine chapters in one day and only not going further because the book didn't allow it, Remus and Sirius agreed to cool it. The momentum had worn off and they needed a day to recover from everything the books were throwing at them. The next day they noticed the book would allow them to read to chapter twelve and sat down again.

It was another stint of emotional highs and lows. Harry was in class actually learning magic, doing normal things like practicing to levitate feathers, but then he nearly died from a troll. Then he made another friend who he was still friends with. He has his first game of Quidditch, but nearly died. Sirius and Remus were beginning to be unsure if they'd survive reading these books. Chapter twelve, however, was surely their undoing.

They hadn't gotten through the whole thing before Sirius practically flew upstairs, though having to stop in the middle of chapters wasn't new for them. Already Remus and Sirius were trying to keep their emotions in check. Harry having his first real Christmas and being surprised that he had presents alone could have ripped them to pieces. The memories it dug up of Remus and Sirius staying for the holidays and having the time of their lives made them exchange watery smiles. Especially when they remembered the one year James stayed for the holidays as well.

Remus thought he would break when Harry received the cloak. Somehow he kept it together, mostly with him realizing that Dumbledore had James' cloak, and for ten years. He never questioned how Harry got it, it just seemed so natural that he and he alone would have it. He never took the time to wonder when Harry received it. Dozens upon dozens of memories of a simpler time of disappearing beneath the cloak with his brothers played in his mind and he had to focus to be able to read.

Remus thought he'd read the worst of it. How much more emotional could a single chapter get, afterall? That was until Harry found his way to the empty room with the mirror that honestly tore him apart.

It was in the description of James and Lily that both Remus and Sirius truly lost their composure. Sirius had let out a pitiful whimper before he ran upstairs, Remus was no better. It was everything combined with the wound of James and Lily being gone being reopened, added with Harry seeing his parents for the very first time, and _realizing_ he was seeing his parents for the first time, that had Remus dig his palms deep inside of his eyes and kick the book he hadn't been aware he dropped away.

Miles and miles away, unknown to all parties, Severus Snape was having his own reaction.

He hated the way he was spending his time, like every other person in this building, reading up on Potter's life. As if the brat's head wasn't already large and he didn't have enough admirers. Severus, though, was aware that there were certain things the boy was uncomfortable with sharing. It was satisfying that he may not be enjoying this either.

Severus tried, hard, to resist the temptation to read those damned books, but his curiosity simply got the best of him. He didn't have near the emotional journey that others perhaps had, many things that happened in the stories were things he was already aware of. He had no reaction to Potter bobbing up and down on his broom (though admittedly shocked that it was Granger who set him on fire), and he wasn't surprised that Potter suspected him the villain. He had no reaction at all to Potter's first Christmas, as he did not enjoy the holiday, and never had.

He was not at all prepared for the blow of Lily showing up once again. Emotions swirled around him, wrapping around his throat like a noose. Guilt, despair, grief, longing, it went on and on. He latched on to the feeling of envy, because it actually hurt the least. His envy that Potter got to see her one more time covered his skin like green scales. Envy turned to the familiar coolness of bitter hatred towards Potter before Severus emptied all feelings and finished the chapter with emotionless flips of the pages.

Remus wiped all evidence of his emotions off his face when he heard the creak of the stairs that told him Sirius would be back down. Indeed he was, a small embarrassed smile on his face as his eyes fell on two discarded books. "Sorry, wasn't expecting..."

He trailed off as the smile slipped off his face and his eyes looked a bit more haunted. "You didn't have to come back down. We can call it a night." Remus said.

Sirius shook his head and lied outright by saying, "I'm fine." He looked at Remus for the first time and raised an eyebrow. "Are you?"

"Yes." Remus also lied.

"Good, then." Sirius said trying again for a smile but failing. He tried to joke a bit instead. "Wish we could go back to the last chapter. I still would like to find a way to send Hermione fudge. For setting the git on fire."

Remus gave him what he hoped was a small smile but did not respond, instead picking the book up and finishing what they'd started. He noticed Sirius made no move to pick up his own book, apparently not wanting to follow along. Remus read on, his voice a bit more grunting as he worked around the knot in his throat that insisted on staying there. He didn't get far before Sirius looked up quickly and nearly dove for his book.

"What are you doing?" Remus asked.

"Ron and Harry are assuming they'll see Ron's family when he looks in the mirror. It made me realize we don't know what the thing does, what it's for, even if it's safe. I'm going to look at that inscription again."

"It was in another language," Remus said though he flipped back to that page.

"It doesn't look like any language I've ever seen." Sirius said studying the page.

"There are so many languages out there, it could be Mermish for all we know." Remus said.

Sirius didn't respond, but instead studied the words and Remus even did as well. He found himself turning over his wand in his hand and then he wrote the words out in the air so he could see them in front of himself. Sirius looked up and cocked his head to the side.

"Oh." Sirius said, staring at the words. "It's backwards."

Remus came around to his side, and while the letters weren't exactly right (for example, the d read as b) he now saw that it was English but backwards and the spacing wasn't exactly right. It didn't take long before they figured it out. _I show not your face but your heart's desire._ Sirius hoped that figuring out what the mirror was would make it easier, but it only made it all worse. Harry had no idea how much Remus and Sirius shared his desire.

Sirius practically crumpled into the chair but sat stoically as Remus continued reading. Both wished Harry could have the greatest desires of being the Head Boy and a Quidditch captain like Ron. Sirius only reacted again when Dumbledore revealed he'd been watching Harry in the mirror, where his face twisted into something ugly and he said in a tight voice, "That was a private moment." But not a word else. When Remus finished, he closed the book and wished Sirius a good night. He could no longer stay in that room, his head throbbed and he felt sick from the emotions he'd gone through. Sirius didn't stop him. He didn't move at all.

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 _Okay, so my last point: No update next week. So sorry, I'm really busy right now, and I honestly have no time on my hands. I want to feel comfortable sharing my work and I just can't do that without going through it, especially because there's usually something I want to add or change all together before I even send it to my beta. I won't have time this week. But I will not take months to update again I PROMISE. And you can still contact me on here or on the other stuff, you know the stuff by now lol._

 _Tell me how I did with the Firenze scene, I rewrote it more than any other part of this story (other than the story itself lol. For those who doesn't know, this is the third version of Thin Pages. Maybe one day I'll put up the early EARLY version on tumblr that's honestly sort of unrecognizable. Just for fun). I'm pretty happy with how it came out but tell me if you think it's not that good. I like honesty!_

 _Also, finale question (it just came to me) I was originally planning on just doing all of the books on here, this one story. That's why it doesn't say THIN PAGES PART I or VOLUME I or BOOK I or something like that. But would you rather it be split up? Or do you all really not gaf lol. Let me know!_

 _Bleugh I hate hate HATE Author's Notes and this is a doozy. I wish I could avoid them all together, but alas, not everyone looks at the twitter and tumblr. Anyway, have a good rest of your weekend! See you in two weeks!_


	13. Nicolas Flamel

Shorter chapter for you as this is pretty much just the book reading reaction. Hope you enjoy anyway.

 _Disclaimer, I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters and this is not a way for me to criticize the books. It's just how I believe the characters would react if they read JK Rowling's brilliant work._

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 **In This Chapter: Harry has his second quidditch game, the trio finally find out who Nicolas Flamel is, Neville and Ron defend themselves against Malfoy, and Harry overhears a conversation between Snape and Quirrell that makes Snape seem even more guilty.**

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Chapter 13

If Harry thought his fame was unnerving before, it had nothing on how it was now. He was sure, before, that it was impossible for him to get more famous. Especially considering he had been schooling with his peers for five years and they hated him every other year. But the damn books, they were ruining everything.

He was starting to be convinced that somewhere among the students there was a fanclub made. Colin, who had calmed down a bit since Harry's second year, was back to his excited fanboy ways. People whispered in every hallway he turned in and they were so obvious about it he wondered why they bothered whispering at all.

As if all of this weren't annoying and invasive enough, he found that his relationships seemed to be getting a lot of attention as well. Not him and Cho, not yet at least. Cho was an entire other issue. It wasn't even specifically romantic relations that caught people's attention. His friendship with Ron and Hermione had gotten very popular. They had been pretty much officially dubbed the Golden Trio in the last week. Being called a trio wasn't entirely new, as every so often they would be named as such by their housemates affectionately. But now everyone was calling them that.

"It's such a great mix, isn't it?" said a girl who hadn't known the 'Golden Trio' was just a few paces behind her and her friend. "Hermione's the brain of the Golden Trio, Ron's the brawns of it, and Harry's a mix!"

All three looked at each other with similar expressions of ire. While the girl likely thought she was paying them each a fantastic compliment, even if she didn't know she'd practically said it to them, they disagreed.

"Lovely to be reduced to one single aspect of a brand," Hermione muttered.

"At least you've got brains." Ron said.

"Just think, we've got seven books of this." Harry shoved his hands in his pockets.

Eventually, the three would have to accept this sort of talk and find a way to put it out of all of their minds. It was not the only part of the books that Harry wanted to put out of his mind. He wanted to forget all about the beginning of the book with the Dursleys. He tried to put them out of his mind while at school, and he certainly hadn't appreciated them being brought up in the way it had been. The school seemed to be moving on from the subject, at least a little, as everyone was as engrossed with the mystery of Nicolas Flamel as he and his friends had been at eleven. It was a little annoying how often he'd been asked about who Nicolas Flamel was, especially considering it would be explained in the book very soon. But Harry would rather answer questions about Flamel than to answer questions about what went on when he was in Number 4, Privet Drive. One person in particular, however, didn't seem to get the hint.

Harry's relationship with Cho was arguably the best it had been since it started. This wasn't saying much about the relationship itself considering Harry had reduced the girl to tears twice since they'd last restarted things. Not that it was hard.

Cho seemed to think that what Harry _really_ needed was to talk about what his aunt, uncle, and cousin put him through. She would push and push, asking questions, wanting to know more about what they did to him. When she would push too hard, Harry couldn't help getting short with her, which lead to, yeah, crying. He knew her heart was in the right place, she wanted to be his shoulder to cry on, to get all of that oppressive childhood tension out of him so she could fully be there when he broke. (These were Hermione's words when he asked her about it. He had been quite annoyed with her when she said he would break and even debated not talking to her for the rest of the day but she realized she upset him and apologized at once.)

All and all, the books were nothing but a nuisance to him. He doubted anything would change his mind about this. While his friends weren't so happy about the books either, there was at least one person who hated the books probably as much as him, and that person and his friends had just finished reading the thirteenth chapter.

Draco Malfoy sat gloomily on his bed, reflecting that not long ago he was in a similar position with a completely different opinion on the book he'd just finished reading. Before he was eager to read, not anymore. The only thing that made him feel better was the fact that Potter didn't seem to be enjoying things better than him. He had no urge to contact any more reporters about Potter's life, partially because nothing really came of it last time. Also partially because something just told him not to.

Draco put his quill away. Blaise, the secret nerd he was, was serious about analyzing Weasel's behavior for any potential Slytherin qualities. Therefore in response to such a ridiculous time waster, Draco did the opposite as he said he would. He didn't really enjoy it but he would be damned if he were proven wrong. Blaise also went above and beyond and started looking into qualities of Slytherin in Potter and Granger, so Draco did the same and glared at Blaise as much as possible as he did it.

"Snape, dear God. How can one innocent man be so suspicious? The mystery is solved and everyone knows he's not the one behind it all and even I suspect him." Blaise said.

"Agreed. I mean he asked Quirrell if he managed to get past Hagrid's beast yet." Pansy said. "He couldn't be more suspicious if he tried."

"Potter shouldn't be following Snape anyway, though." Draco said. "He should mind his own, bloody business."

"What's up your ass?" Pansy asked irritatedly.

"Didn't you read Dumbledore coming down and thanking Potter directly after the game?" Draco asked looking very likely to spit on the ground in the same manner Snape had in the chapter. "Who else would he do that for? Name another student? In fact, name another headmaster who has ever done that for a student!"

"I don't know other headmasters, Dumbledore's been around for like a thousand years." Blaise said.

"I'm just saying, it's times like these that remind me why Potter can get away with bloody everything." Draco grumbled.

Pansy opened her mouth, but quickly closed it. Draco noticed though.

"Oh go ahead, defend your boyfriend." Draco's voice was calm but it was obvious he was frustrated.

"Now you're just being stupid. I wasn't going to defend him, I was just going to play devil's advocate for a second. But I know how you freak out and get all pissy and sensitive about this subject so I thought better of it." Pansy shot back.

Blaise let out a long sigh and debated, not for the first time, finding new people to read with. Pansy and Draco were always going at it. Pansy didn't so much defend Potter as she understood it was difficult not to see things from his perspective when they were reading from it. Blaise understood that, in fact, most people understood that. But Draco was too stubborn to admit to the same thing and only got angry anytime anyone so much as suggested anything in Potter's favor. It didn't mean they were all cosying up to Boy Wonder, or that anyone even liked him any better and they certainly didn't treat him differently. It was just about recognizing there are always at least two sides to everything and they were now seeing the other side. Draco didn't see it this way.

"I'm not getting pissy, I mean it. Go ahead and say what you're thinking. I'd love to hear it this time." Draco sat up and put on a fake attentive face.

"No, because you'll say something in response that will make me have to hex you." Pansy crossed her arms.

"She was probably going to say that he finds himself in situations that require him to have a little more attention." Draco's betrayed eyes snapped to him. If Blaise knew him, he probably was feeling ganged up on. Blaise thought he knew Draco pretty well even if before this year they weren't really friends as much as they were dormmates. "He's a student that requires special needs. Of course it's not a regular thing for the headmaster to take time out of his day to watch a quidditch game, but if there's the chance a student is going to buck off his broom, he's gonna be there to make sure he can prevent said kid from dying. And maybe see if anyone's being suspicious."

Draco's nostrils flared in that way they do when he's angry but he only said, "Whatever."

"I agree, though." Blaise said. "There are times the teachers go far too easy on him and his little friends."

"I know!" Draco practically exploded. "That's all I was saying, and you two act like I was saying something wrong! You wouldn't care if I said that about Saint Potter before-"

"But we also never had all the facts! It's confusing okay?" Pansy finally admitted. "I mean, for years he was just a symbol of everything I stood against! And he was favored by all of the teachers but Snape, and he had his little mudblood friend Granger and the blood traitor Weasel. That was all I knew! But now, well now the books are making him human and it's... weird. Everything I knew about him is still true only I know more about him, but you always get angry at me whenever- Oh just forget it." She had seen the look on Draco's face and he didn't look any ready to budge.

"Look, Draco, if Potter had an entire book on your life, I'm sure he'd be just as confused." Blaise said. "Although I bet he'd be more understanding than you're being, based on what we've read so far. In fact, I reckon Weasel would be the difficult one. Maybe you two are more alike than you think."

"That's not funny." Draco said scowling at Blaise's smirk. "I still think what I said is true, the Gryffindors recruit based on who's most pathetic. I especially think so now that Weasel King's on the team. He's got no money, no brains, and no skill."

Blaise and Pansy couldn't help but laugh at that, and Crabbe and Goyle, who were in the room but easily forgettable, seemed to realize it was okay to laugh again too. For a moment, Draco didn't feel like his whole world had turned upside down. He smirked.

Until Pansy said, "Well sure, but why'd you have to go on and say that to him?"

"Oh don't go defending Weasley as well!"

"I'm _not_ defending him, Draco. I'm calling you an idiot. It's like you're asking to get beat up by antagonizing them." Pansy rolled her eyes.

"You do the same thing to Granger and the other Gryffindor girls." Blaise shrugged.

"Well yeah, to _girls_. Girls don't really fight physically, all they'll do is try to insult me." Pansy said. "But Draco, you push their buttons enough for little Weasels to give you a black eye. And just this year, you got even Potter provoked enough to beat you senseless with one of the Weasley twins, don't ask me which one."

"Yeah but look at what happened. Pomfrey can fix me up in a minute, but they all got a lifelong ban on quidditch." Draco folded his arms. "Believe me, I know what I'm doing."

Pansy rolled her eyes but looked amused. "If you say so."

"At least I know where Longbottom got that ridiculous 'worth ten of you' thing. Potter should stop putting thoughts like that in his head. It's how he ended up knocked out in the hospital wing when he thought he could actually take on Crabbe and Goyle." Draco snickered, as did Crabbe and Goyle when they thought of that day. "And then Weasley saying he should stand up to me, that's a laugh. He can't even stand up to his own bloody toad!"

Blaise and Pansy snorted and all five friends laughed at the expense of Longbottom. "That's not the only mystery solved. I told you it was smarter to just wait and see if they figure out who Nicolas Flamel is in the book rather than to attempt and research it."

"I knew who Flamel was." Pansy said inspecting her nails. "I'm surprised you two didn't."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Draco asked. Pansy shrugged.

"I liked knowing something you didn't."

Blaise laughed while Draco leaned back on his bed, not really annoyed but not quite amused enough to laugh. His mind was on something else as well.

"The only one I pitied during this chapter was Snape." Draco said.

"What are you on about now?" Pansy sighed.

"I'm only saying, because Potter couldn't stay on his broom, Dumbledore probably wanted someone actually competent to referee the game. But of course that didn't occur to Potter." Draco said. "And that perhaps Snape was bitter because he felt he had better things to do than to sit and make sure Potter doesn't get killed."

"What are you trying to say? That Potter doesn't think? Because I'll agree with you there." Pansy said and Draco smiled like he'd been waiting for that all afternoon. Because he sort of had. He wanted to say something bad about Potter and have Pansy just bloody agree with him. Like she used to. Like she still did, but not without 'playing devil's advocate' as she would call it.

"Are you happy now?" Pansy asked with a raised eyebrow. Draco shrugged for an answer, trying to look casual. He leaned back on his bed. "Well are we done with this chapter? Can we move on to chapter fourteen?"

"No," came the unexpected answer from Goyle.

"Why not?" Blaise asked. "You have something to add?"

"Erm, no." Goyle said. "But we can't go to chapter fourteen."

He showed that he was trying to turn the next page but it was stuck. "Oh, Umbridge hasn't opened it up for us yet." Pansy realized.

"But didn't she tell us she wanted us to have finished the first book by Monday?" Draco asked.

"We'll have to read it this weekend. I think she said there were seventeen chapters in total. So we'll read fourteen and fifteen tomorrow and sixteen and seventeen Sunday.. Merlin, can you believe that by Monday we'll have read all of the first book?" Pansy asked. "And we'll move on to the second book."

"Which is probably our second year. What happened that year again?" Blaise asked thoughtfully. "Oh right, we almost lost all of the mudbloods didn't we?"

"Pity that didn't work out." Draco said in a tragic voice.

* * *

 _So, this is the last chapter with the Slytherins until next book. I'm so excited to get to the later books!_

 _Anyway, I don't want to leave a long A/N like last time, I still have nightmares about that one. But I do want to say, my beta (bookhater, check out her stories if you're unfamiliar with her. She just put out a new one called All In The Family and it's great) told me the Slytherin commentary is her favorite opinion to explore of my story. Of course she gushes about all of them, but I wanted to know what yours are. Is it the Slytherins as well? The Teachers? Sirius and Remus? The other students? And also just tell me what your favorite chapter is and if who're reading it has anything to do with it! The day or two right after I've put up a story is my absolute favorite, I can't tell you how much your opinions mean to me. I just looked at my traffic count, 43 THOUSAND people have viewed this? Okay, no pressure, geez. Ok that's it. Damn it's still kinda long…_


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